Mbappé's comments echo in Paris: Ballon d'Or file threatens PSG's stability

Paris Saint-Germain have changed tack in their campaign to back their players in the Ballon d'Or race. The French club had been keen to shine the spotlight equally on three of their leading candidates, only to redirect that push in recent days towards just two players.

According to the newspaper "L'Équipe", Paris Saint-Germain chose at the start of the season not to favour any of the trio of Ousmane Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Fabián Ruiz. They wanted to give all three the same space through a series of media content and activities, including interviews with "France Football" and "The Athletic".

The idea was to hand the three players equal opportunities and avoid a repeat of last season, when the club focused more heavily on Dembélé at the expense of Morocco's Achraf Hakimi.

A surprise change

But that policy shifted sharply over the past few days. The club decided, according to French website "Foot Mercato", to focus its campaign more heavily on Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia. Fabián Ruiz, the report says, had no warning and discovered the new direction through the media.

Clear attention had come the Spanish midfielder's way at the start of the month, whether through his appearance on the "TF1" channel or the content published on Paris Saint-Germain's social media accounts.

The report claims the shift came amid internal discussions about how the club should handle Kylian Mbappé's repeated remarks on the Ballon d'Or race.

Those close to Nasser Al-Khelaifi pushed to limit the campaign to just two players, the aim being to avoid splitting the votes. Meanwhile, the remarks of Mbappé, the former Paris Saint-Germain player, did not go unnoticed within the club's corridors.

An ambiguous stance on Mbappé's remarks

Asked by "L'Équipe" about the change in strategy, the club declined to give further details and simply reaffirmed their official position in support of their players.

A club source said: "We do not see any need to comment further on our strategy or our intentions. We have 10 players out of 30 nominees for the Ballon d'Or, and this is a great source of pride for Paris Saint-Germain."

He added: "These nominations reflect the success of the group and the work done by everyone at the club. And as we made clear over the past weeks, we believe that a Paris Saint-Germain player deserves to win the Ballon d'Or."

So the club stuck publicly to their collective message, without explaining why Fabián Ruiz's media presence has dropped compared to Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia.

Will Saint-Germain's stability be affected?

Expect the shift to raise questions inside Fabián Ruiz's camp. The player now finds himself outside the strategy Paris Saint-Germain adopted when the campaign began.

How the Spaniard reacts remains to be seen, with the club trying to manage a sensitive media issue for the second season running.

These calculations passed with little notable impact on the team last season. Paris Saint-Germain will hope the controversy around the Ballon d'Or campaign does not become a factor affecting their players' focus or the team's stability on the pitch this time around.

Click here to read article