French sports minister backs Mbappe for Paris 2024, Benzema for Ballon d’Or

France’s sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera believes Kylian Mbappé will be the poster boy for the Paris Olympic Games.

Mbappé last week decided to stay at Paris Saint-Germain, despite having widely been expected to join Real Madrid on a free transfer.

The 23-year-old has signed a three-year deal with PSG, keeping him at the Parc des Princes until 2025.

“PSG will be fully behind the Olympics”

It is a move that Oudea-Castera believes benefits the whole of France, as she suggested Mbappé, already a World Cup winner, will now be the star for the country to get behind in the 2024 Olympics.

“To be on the field, in our magnificent sites, to represent his country at the Olympic Games in 2024, he has always dreamed of it and he will make so many of us dream of it,” she told RMC Sport, as quoted by Le Parisien.

“It’s a big ‘YES’ in capital letters. PSG will be fully behind the Olympic and Paralympic Games. I am certain that all this will happen.”

Oudea-Castera thinks Mbappé is worth the huge salary the Ligue 1 champions are paying him.

“The amounts are very high, but that rewards an immense talent, constant work. He is a huge worker, sport also has its big stars as has entrepreneurship,” she added.

“It’s not dirty or ugly, especially since he gives a lot. Kylian makes his values clear, he is very committed.”

Benzema Ballon d’Or bid

Oudea-Castera also had a word for Mbappé’s France team-mate Karim Benzema, who she backed to win the Ballon d’Or after an extraordinary season with Madrid that might culminate in a Champions League triumph, with Los Blancos facing Liverpool in Paris on Saturday.

“He has a good chance [of winning the Ballon d’Or],” she said. “We are all behind him, it would be a very nice reward.”