EXCLUSIVE | Bacary Sagna on Kylian Mbappé: ‘It’s hard to put him in same bracket as Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry.’ | OneFootball

Former France international Bacary Sagna sat down to answer Get French Football News’s questions on Les Bleus, following their successful qualification campaign to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals. 

Next year’s competition will be France manager Didier Deschamps’ final tournament in charge of the national team, marking the end of a tenure that began in 2012 when he succeeded Laurent Blanc. At the time, France were in a difficult period having endured back-to-back disappointments at the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 UEFA European Championship. 

Sagna explained, “I remember when Didier Deschamps first became France’s manager; there was a lot of unrest at the time. He was perceived as a father figure to the squad and had a good relationship with the team. He expected a lot from the ‘bigger’ players but looked for contributions from everyone.” 

“The team will definitely miss him,” Sagna told us. “He deserves a lot of credit because they won the World Cup in 2018 and competed against Argentina in the 2022 final, so he’s had a great impact since he’s been in charge. Managing a national team is a lot of work: you only have the players for a short amount of time, their availability is decided for you, and there may be injuries that are out of your control.” 

Kylian Mbappé’s place in France’s pantheon of greats

One player that Deschamps will hope to have at his disposal next summer will be talisman and captain Kylian Mbappé. Sagna believes that the 26-year-old Real Madrid forward has already staked his claim in the pantheon of France’s greatest players: “Kylian Mbappé is without a doubt in the top 10 best French players ever.”

However, the former Arsenal and Manchester City defender believed there’s still some way to go for him to reach the very best. “It’s hard to put him in the top five and the same bracket as Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry because those retired legendary players didn’t have social media,” Sagna said. “The advantage Mbappé has is that he’s gained a lot more exposure and is recognised as a modern-day world-class player. We’ve been able to see his complete journey so far and how he has developed; he’s been in the spotlight.”

“There have been so many great French players like Michel Platini, Patrick Vieira, and Claude Makelele, just to name a few, but Mbappe is definitely in the top 10 at the moment and, of course, has the ability to be even better,” Sagna explained. Perhaps a better ranking in the list of France’s all-time greats will be assured if he can lead his nation to their third World Cup trophy this summer. 

Bacary Sagna was speaking to GFFN exclusively on behalf of oddspedia.com. 

GFFN | Nick Hartland