"I think he should give it up" - Pundit asks Kylian Mbappe to give up captaincy of France national team

Former France international Jerome Rothen has asked Kylian Mbappe to step down as national team captain. The Real Madrid superstar was appointed captain of Les Bleus in March 2023 and is one of the best players to represent the Western European powerhouses.

Mbappe helped his nation to its first World Cup title in the 21st century. As a teenager, he scored in the final of the 2018 tournament. The forward has 48 goals and 35 assists in 86 national caps.

However, Rothen, who managed 13 appearances and a single goal for the national team, believes the star should return the armband. Speaking on RMC Sport via Goal, the 46-year-old stated:

"I think Mbappe should only focus his communication on football. Regarding the armband in the French team, after everything that has happened, I think he should give it up."

Kylian Mbappe is the third-highest goalscorer in France's history, only behind Olivier Giroud and Thiery Henry, who have 57 and 51 strikes, respectively. The forward is enjoying a strong debut season with Real Madrid, with 18 goals and three assists from 30 games.

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“I believe it was a mentality issue and that was a point I realized that I had to work harder” Kylian Mbappe discusses early struggles with Real Madrid.

In a recent interview, Kylian Mbappe discussed his early struggles at Real Madrid. The French icon joined Los Blancos in the summer from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer but did not initially match the expectations.

The French star arrived in Madrid as the record goalscorer for PSG with 256 goals and 106 assists from 308 games for the side.

Speaking about his initial struggles, the Frenchman told the Independent:

“I believe it was a mentality issue and that was a point I realised that I had to work harder. I was thinking too much about how to do things. Whether to go into space, whether to go to Vini's (Vinicius Jr's) area of the pitch, to Rodrygo's area ... when you overthink you don't focus on your game."

“I was fine physically and with the group but I knew I had to do more, that was the time to change the situation. I didn't come to Madrid to play badly. Here we have to play well all the time and now I am ready to do that. I felt bad because I'm a player who always wants to do more and when you don't perform in that level it's normal to get targeted. I knew that it could happen and in the end it was a good moment because after that game I changed my mentality," Mbappe added.

Kylian Mbappe concluded, saying:

“I couldn't do any worse, so when you hit rock bottom you can only go up.”

In his recent games, Mbappe has found a purple patch of form for Real Madrid. He has scored four goals in his last three games, including a brace in his most recent match ahead of his side's UEFA Champions League clash against Salzburg.