Didier Deschamps on Kylian Mbappé's Leadership and France's World Cup Chances

The Legacy of Didier Deschamps

Follow the verdant path towards the Château de Clairefontaine and you are met by a three-metre replica of the World Cup trophy accompanied by two stars, representing France’s World Cup triumphs. Didier Deschamps had his hand in both of them, captaining his side to victory in 1998 before repeating the feat as manager in 2018.

Deschamps on Mbappé's Leadership

As we speak to Deschamps, his assistant, Guy Stéphan, pops his head through the door. “You’ve got the best,” he jokes. The France manager replies with a smile: “He is always very objective.” Deschamps’ record as a player and then as a manager makes Stéphan’s comment difficult to refute.

The Weight of Expectations

Deschamps insists that “it doesn’t matter” and nor does it interest him. He adds: “The most important thing is today and tomorrow, and tomorrow is the World Cup. After that, everyone will have their own … interpretation, their own feeling.”

Adapting to a Changing Team

Yet he says there is not a secret formula to emulate. “I have a magic word: adaptation … I say to myself, ‘In relation to the person I have in front of me, I adapt.’ And so it leads to modifications … It’s not because we did this and it worked well that we shouldn’t change. It’s not about changing for the sake of changing either,” he says.

Mbappé's Role in the Team

“Kylian, today, who is our captain, before being captain, he listened, he looked, he doesn’t do things like Hugo. It’s not at all the same character and personality. He takes on this leadership outside, on the pitch as well, and he knows that when he speaks, he doesn’t speak in his own name, but he speaks in the name of all the players as well.”

Challenges Ahead

For Mbappé to surpass Giroud’s record, Deschamps must find the right “balance”, a word he repeats eight times during our talk on a wet afternoon. “At the 2022 World Cup we already had four attackers [starting],” says Deschamps, countering an assertion that a switch from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 could leave Les Bleus’ famously resolute defence exposed.