Thierry Henry ‘in favour of abusing’ Kylian Mbappe in praise of ‘most underrated player in existence’

Will Ford
Henry Mbappe
Thierry Henry hopes to persuade Kylian Mbappe to play for France at the Olympics.

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry says he is “in favour of abusing” Kylian Mbappe to highlight the quality of “the most underrated player in existence”.

Henry is well versed in scoring goals for club and country, just like Mbappe, who is set to join Real Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season.

“There aren’t many. Grizou is one of them.”

Before Mbappe makes his Madrid bow he will have represented France at Euro 2024, and Henry also hopes to persuade him to play for his country at the Olympic games in the country’s capital city of Paris.

Henry now works as the France Under-21 boss and will lead the Olympic team, which can include three senior players.

The Parisien recently claimed he wanted to call upon Mbappe, along with Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud, and in a recent interview with the same publication, Henry heaped praise on an unsung French hero.

“We must not forget Griezmann, who reminds us that hard work is a talent,” the 46-year-old said.

“Griezmann is by far the most underrated player in existence. We often talk about Kylian, so much so that I am even in favour of abusing him. But Griezmann… look at his passes and his goals.

“Tell me who in history could play all four offensive positions like him? There aren’t many. Grizou is one of them.”

Griezmann to put the “pressure” on

Griezmann opened the door to him playing at the Olympics this month, insisting it would be a “dream” and claiming he would “put extraordinary pressure” on club side Atletico Madrid to make that dream a reality.

“I haven’t talked about it with the coach but it would be a dream for me,” he said to the media.

“If I’m called up, I’ll put extraordinary pressure on them to let me do it. It’s a dream, it’s a goal, it’s in France, it’s representing France. The Olympics. Everyone watches them.”

READ MORE: The ridiculous stats of Kylian Mbappe: 19 hat-tricks in seven different competitions at 25

Henry knows he will have a big battle on his hands to persuade club sides to release their players, and is particularly pessimistic over his chances of persuading Real Madrid to release Mbappe and his teammates.

“I haven’t spoken to Kylian about it yet,” Henry added.

“But, what do you want me to say to him and what do you want Kylian to say to me? Is he going to fight with his club? Be careful, here we are speculating without knowing if his destiny will be his.

“The only thing we know about Kylian is that he is leaving. It doesn’t matter where he goes. But if he goes to Real Madrid, we already know that they will not let their players go.

“I wouldn’t stop there. We are talking about Kylian, but there are also Camavinga, Tchouaméni and Mendy. I will keep trying until the end, because I want the best team.

“But we return to the same debate: What can be done apart from being polite, asking and asking again and again?

“It’s like when, at Christmas, you have asked your parents for the same gift ten times, without result, and you ask for it again for the eleventh time… You have to ask for it. Who stops at the first refusal?”