Earlier today, France Football named Kylian Mbappe the Best French Footballer for the 2023-24 season and declared the Real Madrid superstar the victor of the award for the fourth time after his scalps in 2018, 2019 and 2023.
The award was in recognition of his season with PSG last year which was his final season at the club not including his season with Real Madrid so far. After all, his start to life in Spain has not been as exciting.
The player finished with 56 points after the voting and won by five points over William Saliba who had 51 points. Surprisingly, however, the player did not earn the favour of a certain Real Madrid legend.
Benzema snubs Mbappe
The Best French Footballer award is decided by voting by all the previous winners of the award. Unsurprisingly, Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema is one of the players handed the privilege.
As revealed by Mundo Deportivo, however, Benzema did not choose Mbappe in his top three votes in the award despite his heroics for PSG last season.
Benzema did not vote for Mbappe for French Footballer of the Year award. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images)
Given that the ex-PSG superstar is his bonafide replacement in Spain, it does come as a surprise to see him not vote for the Real Madrid No. 9.
Benzema, in fact, chose Eduardo Camavinga, Bradley Barcola and Warren Zaire-Emery as his three picks.
He was not, however, the only notable name to snub Mbappe as N’Golo Kante also did not choose Mbappe in his top three and chose William Saliba, Jules Kounde and Eduardo Camavinga.
If the new signings season so far is anything to go by, he is far from defending his title next year and must significantly step up if he is to win it for the fifth time.
A recent injury has him sidelined for the time being but he is expected to return to action later this month.