Kylian Mbappe has found himself at the centre of a storm with the Ballon d'Or announcement edging closer, after 1991 winner Jean-Pierre Papin tore into the France captain over the way he has handled the race for the sport's most prestigious individual prize in the media.
Papin doesn't deny the talent or the record-breaking numbers. What he can't stomach is the self-obsession, and he insists the Ballon d'Or isn't handed out on the basis of a player's opinion of himself but on a range of criteria set by the voters.
Speaking to French website "Foot Mercato", the French football legend said: "I really do admire Kylian, he holds records, but at a certain point it all becomes about me, me, me and myself. The Ballon d'Or winner is decided by others."
One comment in particular crossed a line for him. "At one point he said that nobody other than him deserved the Ballon d'Or. That was too much for me, far too much," Papin added.
The former Marseille star signed off by returning to those criteria, reckoning Mbappe ticks plenty of the boxes. It's the image he projects that undermines him. Papin also nailed his colours to the mast: he wants England's Harry Kane to win it.