Mbappe knights Saliba as Real Madrid circle for Arsenal superstar

Kylian Mbappe has been honoured as France’s best footballer of the 2023/24 season, but he believes that William Saliba would have been just as deserving of the award.

Mbappe has had a couple of turbulent campaigns, with his start to life at Real Madrid perhaps not going as planned. His final season at PSG, too, was not ideal and it recently saw him slump to a sixth-place finish in the Ballon d’Or voting.

This was seen as a major disappointment in his native France, which only added to the drama surrounding his captaincy of the French national team, with the Real Madrid star omitted from consecutive Les Bleus camps.

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Still, Mbappe remains France’s best player and given that he scored 44 goals in 48 games for PSG last term, it is unsurprising that he has now been voted his country’s Player of the Season for the fourth time in his career.

Mbappe knights Saliba

Mbappe finished just five points ahead of Arsenal’s star defender William Saliba and he believes that he, too, would have been a worthy recipient. “We have to be fair. He would have deserved it too,” Mbappe told France Football after receiving the award.

It speaks to the high regard in which Saliba is held in the national team setup, which has not always been a kind environment for him. Didier Deschamps has – at times publically – made it clear that he is not a massive fan of the defender’s game, though he finally managed to win him somewhat over at Euro 2024.

Mbappe’s comment will also do little to allay any concerns Arsenal fans may have about Real Madrid’s interest in the 23-year-old. Given the sizeable French contingent at the Santiago Bernabeu, rumours linking Saliba and Los Blancos won’t go away anytime soon.

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Even Germany international Antonio Rudiger has previously waxed lyrical about the Frenchman, illustrating that Saliba certainly is a topic in the European champions’ dressing room.

Arsenal, of course, are determined to extend Saliba’s contract to fend off any interest, but with Real Madrid desperate to bolster their backline, the public acclaim coming from Los Blancos’ players may be a little more than just innocent praise.