Henry on Mbappé at the 2024 Olympics: “Between wanting and being able there is a difference”

AFP: After a first part of your mandate monopolized by qualifications for Euro 2025, are you now totally focused on the Olympics? Thierry Henry: Yes totally, because they will arrive very quickly. There are the first preparation matches in March. I have a lot of possibilities and very few certainties. This is inherent to the Hopeful category that I lead. This is why the first thing I did when I was appointed was to pay tribute to my predecessor (Sylvain Ripoll, Editor's note). In the U20s, from one match to the next, we don't know who we can count on. Who could have guessed a year ago that Warren Zaire-Emery would be in A? To keep a thread, it's not easy. This is even more true when preparing for the Olympic Games which, as you know, do not fit into the FIFA dates. We are then at the mercy of the clubs' desire to release their players or not.

Are you deploring it? No, because I was Hope, I know what it is and I knew it before taking the job. But there are battles to be fought. Look: in March I will play preparation matches which fit into Fifa dates, so at that time, I will have plenty of time to select who I want. But for the tournament itself, excluding Fifa dates, I could not demand anything, it will be the clubs which will decide.

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Have you already spoken to the clubs to convince them to release the players you would like to select? Yes, we had meetings with the French clubs. It went very well, we looked for common ground so that the players found each other in the best conditions. Clubs and presidents have been receptive, but the problem will certainly arise with foreign clubs. Why would they release their players? And it's not just that. I don't know who I will select yet, but let's say I want a player and his current club accepts. If he's transferred in the summer, who's to say his new club will want to release him?

How do you plan to go about it? We must give a very broad list to the IOC in March. We will have to target. We want to have the best possible team, but there are lots of parameters that we cannot control. There are the players at the end of their contract, those who will play in the Euro, knowing that we do not know the list for the Euro either. There is also the case of the four reservists. How to bring certain players to make the number, knowing that if there are medals at the end, it will not be for them.

There is also the emblematic case of Kylian Mbappé...Kylian has a special place everywhere. But between wanting and being able there is a difference. I don't know where he will end up (next summer, Editor's note) but the club will have a say. I haven't contacted him about this yet. I've already had quite a few players but I wanted to let the holidays pass for others. I surveyed some people, it also helps us move forward and see what we can do.

Have other players reached out to you? Players like Antoine Griezmann have expressed their interest...No one has asked me. They ask each other (laughs). Let's be honest, it's the Olympics in France, it's something important for everyone. If you talk to any player in France, they would want to make the Olympics. But will they be able to?

Do you communicate regularly with Didier Deschamps on all these subjects? “DD” helped me a lot. We have discussions quite often. He made 75,000 matches for the French team, 210,000 competitions, he won everything. I listen to what the boss says. We try to move forward like this, knowing that he too must prepare for his Euro.

Despite all the constraints, there is still excitement? Yes, excitement, enthusiasm. I hope it will be something extraordinary. But I don't want to project too much either. These are the Olympics, it's rare to have them twice in 100 years. Being part of this with the staff, the team, it’s still exciting even if there are a lot of uncertainties.

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There will be a lot of pressure...Me, the team, everyone will be expected. We haven't won since 1984. It's been a long time coming. We're in France, it's just normal for me. But it's not always easy to win at home, to transform this pressure into a positive emotion.

Do you also feel like you're playing big in your career as a technician? I'm not playing anything. What am I playing? I love coaching, but one day I will stop. I try to send a message to this team and instill some values ​​in terms of professionalism. There are coaches who have won nothing, who have been important in the history of football. And coaches who won everything and with whom you couldn't talk. I have never refused a challenge. Longevity in football, apart from DD, is hard.

What exactly is the objective set for the Olympics? It's France. Visualizing gold is just normal. Getting there is another debate. How? That's another debate. If you enter a competition at home with material and you don't visualize gold, you won't be able to get there. This is what Aimé Jacquet put in our heads in 1998.