Dayot Upamecano has refused to be dragged into the Ballon d'Or row between his fellow Frenchmen Ousmane Dembélé, of Paris Saint-Germain, and Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé.
Both Mbappé and Dembélé sit among the thirty leading nominees for the award, with the ceremony set for London on 26 October.
The dispute traces back to an interview Mbappé gave last Saturday to France Football, the magazine that has handed out the Ballon d'Or since 1956.
Speaking to the publication, the Real Madrid and France forward said: "Dembélé was always seen as a gifted player, whereas I, on the other hand, was always regarded as the chosen player."
Dembélé fired back quickly. "I was never seen as the chosen player, but I worked hard, and last year I was rewarded with a wonderful season at Paris Saint-Germain," he said.
Upamecano was one of 12 players who trained on Monday under Zinedine Zidane, a session he described simply as the first of a new era for France.
"We enjoyed ourselves a lot, that's the most important thing," the Bayern Munich defender said of his first day under Zidane. "Our focus today was on adapting and welcoming the new players. We had a really great training session. I'm very happy. We were all fans of his from childhood, as well as Barthez, and it's wonderful to learn from him."
He went on, as reported by French outlet Foot Mercato: "It's hard to imitate Zidane's control of the ball (laughs). And his first words were for us to give our best on the pitch, and that's what we tried to do."
Pressed on the Mbappé and Dembélé saga, he wouldn't bite. "We won't get into any discussions. We just trained and enjoyed our time here. Look at my smile, we enjoyed ourselves a lot," he said.
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