Kylian Mbappé was elected French Player of the Season for the fourth time in his career, ahead of William Saliba by a few points. The magazine France Football had the former winners of this individual distinction vote and three players from the French team for the 2023-2024 season were part of the jury: Mbappé, who could not vote for himself, Antoine Griezmann, who put Alexandre Lacazette ahead of Mbappé, and N’Golo Kanté, who did not mention his captain during Euro 2024 in Germany.
France Football revealed the details of the votes and the absence of Mbappé from Kanté’s top 3 did not go unnoticed on social networks. The 2018 world champion midfielder, elected French Player in 2017, placed William Saliba at the top of his ballot, then voting for Jules Koundé in 2 and Eduardo Camavinga in 3. Barça captain, Koundé probably did not make a better season than Mbappé, author of 52 goals in all competitions during the financial year in question. The defender is also ranked 11th in the final ranking.
Benzema as Kanté
Karim Benzema, Kanté’s teammate at Al-Ittihad, also excluded Kylian Mbappé from his podium, preferring Eduardo Camavinga, Bradley Barcola and William Saliba in that order. The 2022 Ballon d’Or, elected French Player of the Year in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2021, would not much appreciate the prodigy from Bondy and, according to France Footballhim “desires deep enmity”.
Other jurors did not cite Mbappé: Marius Trésor (who voted Mike Maignan), Jean Tigana (who chose Aurélien Tchouameni), Luis Fernandez (who put Eduardo Camavinga in 1st), Manuel Amoros (who placed Pierre Lees-Melou in the lead), Jean-Pierre Papin (who believes that Warren Zaire-Emery was the best French player of the season!), Bernard Lama (who highlighted Alexandre Lacazette) or Yoann Gourcuff (who honored Antoine Griezmann).
