Luis Enrique just couldn't resist. He had been handed, in journalistic terms, the easiest question possible: Is Kylian Mbappe the best player in the world? A simple 'yes', or perhaps more controversial 'not quite' would have sufficed. It was, effectively, an opportunity to heap praise on his star man.
And how could he not? Mbappe had just bagged a hat-trick against Reims, leading the Parisians through what should have been a tricky contest with relative ease to ensure they went into the international break sat top of Ligue 1.
His manager, though, had a different view: "I am not very happy with Kylian today. Why? Because managers are so strange. About goals, I don’t have to say anything, but I think he can help the team more in a different way. I told that to him first (before you) because it’s not a private conversation. We think Kylian is one of the best players in the world. No doubt. But we need more and we want him doing more things.”
In isolation, with any other club, and perhaps even any other player in Paris, Luis Enrique's comments would be reasonable. Although football, in recent months, has had a difficult relationship with managers airing their grievances with players in public — just ask Jadon Sancho — honesty is, objectively a good thing.
But this is no normal club, and no normal player. Mbappe, regarded as a multiple-Ballon d'Or winner in the making, has spent most of the last three seasons going to war with PSG off the field, while doing enough on it to make himself indispensable. He has forced at least one manager out of a job, impacted recruitment policy, and manipulated the Parisians so efficiently in contract negotiations that the club was forced into widespread celebration after agreeing on a deal that saw them pay Mbappe the transfer budget of most teams just to stay for a couple more years.
In short, Luis Enrique has picked a fight with the wrong guy. Mbappe could, at any minute, decide to leave. Saturday's comments have already intensified reports regarding Mbappe's future, whipping up talk of a potential transfer elsewhere this summer, and though this circus was always going to reopen, the PSG coach might have started selling tickets before anyone was quite ready.
