Zinedine Zidane has pushed back hard against the talk around his relationship with Kylian Mbappé, insisting there is no problem between them. Speaking through the speculation, he said he has a coach-player relationship with Mbappé and that things are going perfectly well. Mbappé was absent against France because of hamstring discomfort, and France now have Türkiye next on 15 November.

Zidane's denial

"I won’t get into this debate. Simply put, I have a coach-player relationship with him, and things are going perfectly well. The player works with me, so there’s no problem. But on the other hand, I can’t stop people from talking. That’s the situation," Zidane said via madriduniversal.com.

The line is backed up by the fact that this is not the first time he has swatted away the idea of a rupture. On Meczyki.pl, in comments translated from Polish, he also said: "Information that my relations with Mbappe are bad? I do not understand this, it is not a big deal. I will not enter into this discussion."

The noise has grown because Mbappé was unavailable against Italy, and Foot Mercato reported that Zidane wanted him to stay for the Türkiye match rather than leave camp early. Mbappé also posted on 8 January 2023: "Zidane is France, you do not disrespect a legend like that".

Why the speculation spread

Foot Mercato linked the wider chatter to Mbappé's hamstring discomfort, the Italy absence and the idea that Zidane wanted him to move back to the left while Mbappé was waiting to see whether he would be used in the middle. Tomas Roncero also suggested the forward should stay with the squad and play against Türkiye, saying: "If I am Zidane, he has to stay until Sunday to play with Türkiye."

There has also been background chatter about the France camp, but that has to be treated carefully. Cyril Hanouna claimed the training session in Bordeaux was shifted on Friday and said there were two camps in the dressing room, one around Mbappé and one around Ousmane Dembélé, yet those claims remain unverified. Zidane's public line is much simpler, and it has not changed: he sees a normal working relationship with Mbappé, not a feud.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →