‘I found him subdued and unhappy’ –Beye questions Enrique’s management of Mbappé

Red Star manager and Canal Plus consultant Habib Beye has questioned Luis Enrique’s management of Kylian Mbappé (25) after the latter put in an anonymous performance in Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final first-leg defeat against Barcelona on Wednesday.

Luis Enrique’s management of Mbappé has been called into question. Since informing the club’s president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, that he would be leaving Les Parisiens upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the season, Mbappé has been used more sparingly, especially in Ligue 1.

Prior to his departure announcement, Mbappé had only not completed 90 minutes in Ligue 1 on three occasions. In the seven games since, he has completed 90 minutes on just one occasion and he has not started three of those games. It perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise, therefore, that Mbappé is lacking rhythm.

Mbappé is averaging just 50 minutes on the pitch per match for PSG since the match against Real Sociedad in February and speaking after Les Parisiens’ 3-2 defeat to Barcelona, Beye said he believes this is having a negative effect on the France captain’s performances.

“It was a difficult match for me. He can’t have a match like that when he’s the leader of PSG’s attack. He was average tonight, just like some of his teammates. We’ve had this discussion very often and we have spoken about Luis Enrique’s management [of the player]. When you have a player who doesn’t play against Clermont, who comes off against Marseille, who is managed, who is coming off at the hour mark, you can see a decrease in intensity,” he began.

Beye added, “He is the player that should make the difference. When a player is being taken off […] maybe Mbappé lacked intensity today. He wasn’t good and he