France’s defeat in the World Cup final was a damaging one to the players and the mental implication won’t be fully realised until some time after. Kylian Mbappe was at the centre of it all having scored three times and in the penalty shootout, yet he ended up on the losing side.
Mbappe was joined by Arsenal defender William Saliba who also struck a dejected figure at full-time in the final. Despite being utterly brilliant for Mikel Arteta’s team this season, Saliba was snubbed by Didier Deschamps in the French starting XI.
Dayot Upamecano, Raphael Varane and Ibrahima Konate were all preferred to the Arsenal man. Even Monaco defender Axel Disasi made two more appearances in the tournament and started ahead of Saliba in the final group-stage game against Tunisia.
