Former Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappé broke his nose during France’s 1-0 win over Austria on Monday night. The Real Madrid standout’s status for the remainder of the group stage is uncertain, but he appears not to be starting in Friday’s clash against the Netherlands.
Mbappé won’t start against the Dutch and if he doesn’t start in the final group stage match against Poland, the question will be how does manager Didier Deschamps cope without the 25-year-old.
Many suggest, much to PSG supporters’ delight, that Bradley Barcola receive a shot at cracking the lineup, but one journalist believes the player’s lack of experience might work against him.
Chief editor of Football Transfers and columnist for PSG Talk Extra Time Robin Bairner said on the latest episode of PSG Talk that Deschamps will prefer going with more experience players to cope for however long Mbappé cannot be part of the squad’s starting 11.
“I think today Deschamps is a relatively conservative manager,” Bairner said. “I don’t think he’s going to take too many risks. So for that reason, I think he’s going to pick [Randal] Kolo Muani. However, I would pick Barcola. I’m a huge Bradley Barcola fan, as you’ll probably find out over the next few weeks. There are no guarantees with him. That’s the trouble. He’s still only 21 years old.
“He’s still not hugely consistent and I think Deschamps will probably look at the way he started at PSG and perhaps reflect that he can’t afford him to start so slowly with the national team as well… Obviously, it took him several months to settle properly. He got a few bad breaks in the beginning, but it certainly took him a few months to really find his top, top level at PSG and he’s only been given two caps. He’s only got 37 minutes of international football experience.”
