Kylian Mbappé will have had a particularly complicated year in 2024. After a contentious divorce with PSG, a Euro marked by his broken nose and far from his expectations, the Bondynois had a difficult start at Real Madrid, to say the least. If he has already won two trophies and displays ultimately very decent statistics, with 14 goals and 6 assists in 24 matches, his performances have most often been disappointing.
Improvements were nevertheless observed before the holidays and the former Parisian hopes to confirm this Friday during the trip to Valencia. To do this, the French world champion can count on the support of his teammates and the entire Merengue environment. A figure in the club, of which he was a player and then manager, Jorge Valdano was not surprised by the former Monegasque’s difficulties in adapting, attributable to the low cultural weight of football in France.
“It’s a question of adaptation, he confided during an interview with South German Zeitung. Mbappé left his country, France, for the first time, and it took him sociologically out of his comfort zone. This may have led him to a process of anxiety, and anxiety is the great enemy of the footballer. »
DAZN figures singled out
“In France, football does not have as much cultural importance as here in Spain, he added. This is simply seen on the DAZN television channel, which has perhaps between 100,000 and 200,000 subscribers in France. Real Madrid, on the other hand, is not only the news leader on Sundays, but also on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. »
The Argentinian also pointed out the profile of current players, based more on physique than on technique or sense of the game, football now appearing to him “more academic
»as ” from a laboratory”. “This is what Kylian Mbappé and especially Erling Haaland embody. He is an almost robotic figure who is dazzling but who has a different journey from all those who came before him,” he pointed out.
