{"id":2171,"date":"2026-09-24T14:08:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T06:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=2171"},"modified":"2026-09-24T14:08:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T06:08:44","slug":"zidane-has-already-told-mbappe-he-will-not-be-frances-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/zidane-has-already-told-mbappe-he-will-not-be-frances-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Zidane has already told Mbappe he will not be France&#8217;s &#8216;9&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-33.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-33.png 1000w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-33-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-33-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The new head coach contacted the French national team captain before releasing his squad list, making it clear he wants the forward on the left wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new era with Zidane at the helm of France has officially begun this week. Just days prior, according to reports from &#8216;RMC Sport&#8217;, the head coach got in touch with Kylian Mbappe for a private conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The manager set out his plan to the captain and talisman: he wants him playing on the left side of the attack rather than as a &#8216;9&#8217;, a role he had been fulfilling for both national side and Real Madrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Personally, I prefer him on the left,&#8221; the coach stated during his unveiling press conference. The remark went largely unnoticed at the time, but it makes complete sense in light of the news now emerging from the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This tactical switch could also affect the positioning of Dembele, who typically features on the right flank for &#8216;Les Bleus&#8217;, potentially shifting him into a central focal point \u2014 a role he has already taken on in matches for PSG.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new head coach contacted the French national team captain before releasing his squad list, making it clear<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2173,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171\/revisions\/2173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}