Mbappe transfer overshadows crunch France qualifier
paris — France coach Didier Deschamps must ensure any distractions caused by the impending transfer deadline are put to one side as his team face the Netherlands in a crunch World Cup qualifier on Thursday.
The build-up to the game at the Stade de France has been overshadowed by talk of striker Kylian Mbappe’s sensational transfer from Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain.
The move had still not been made official as Deschamps and his squad, including Mbappe, gathered to train at the national stadium on the eve of the match, which will be played just as the record-breaking transfer window closes in France and most of Europe.
Mbappe’s Monaco and France colleague Thomas Lemar, the subject of interest from Liverpool, is another who has been making headlines this week. However, France captain Hugo Lloris played down suggestions that any transfer talk is causing minds to wander.
“The transfer window is more of interest to you (the media) than us. We are more focused on the games coming up. We need to prepare and have only had a few days to do so,” said the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper on Wednesday.
“I don’t need to emphasise that all our heads are focused on the game.” Left out of the Monaco side in recent weeks, Mbappe may not start the match, while Ousmane Dembele was not included in the squad due to the distraction of his transfer from Dortmund to Barcelona. Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman could therefore be recalled for this potentially decisive encounter, with only three more qualifiers to follow and both sides’ hopes of making it to next year’s finals in Russia on the line.
Only the winners of each section progress automatically, with the runners-up hoping to drop into playoffs, and the French and the Dutch trail leaders Sweden. —