Kylian Mbappe has revealed that he considered retiring from France's national team this summer.
The Paris Saint-Germain star helped Les Blues to winning the 2018 World Cup alongside the likes of Manchester United duo Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane, and was hailed as the new golden boy of not only French football, but the global game.
Three years on, though, and Mbappe, still only 22, missed the decisive penalty during this summer's European Championships, as France lost to Switzerland on penalties.
He subsequently received scrutiny for his underwhelming displays throughout the tournament and the aforementioned spot-kick, leading the PSG forward to admit he was 'made to feel like a problem' in the senior France setup.
"I have always placed the French national team above everything and I will always put it above everything," he told L'Equipe, via Get Football News France. "I have never taken a single Euro to play for the French national team and I will always play for my national team for free.
"Above all, I never wanted to be problem.
"But from the moment where I felt like that I was starting to become a problem and that people felt I was a problem.
"The most important thing is the French national team and if the French national team is happier without me, it is like that."
When asked if he does indeed feel like a problem, Mbappe responded: "That is what I was made to feel and that is what I felt.
"I received the message, that my ego was what made us lose, that I wanted to take up too much space, and that without me, therefore, we might have won."
The former Monaco starlet then revealed he spoke to Noel Yves Marie Le Graet, president of the French Football Federation, but not manager Didier Deschamps about his future - although Mbappe did not disclose the details of his exchange with the FFF chief.
He continued by saying the events on the pitch at Euro 2020 are now behind him, stating that he spoke to his team-mates after their defeat, which sparked reports of multiple fallouts in the dressing room.
But the superstar wanted more support after he received racist abuse upon the shock exit - much what England trio Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were subject to in July, having all missed their penalties in the final against Italy.
"I have so much love for the French national team that I abstract from it all. What shocked me, again, was being called a monkey for the penalty," Mbappe, set to earn his 50th France cap when they face Belgium in Thursday's Nations League semi-final, added.
"That is what I wanted support around, not because I took my penalty to the left and [Switzerland goalkeeper Yann] Sommer stopped it: that, that is on me, that is my foot that did that."
He has now demanded Les Blues 'get their heads screwed back on' and revert to what made them world champions, with the Qatar World Cup only 14 months away.
"We saw everything that needed to be done at the 2018 World Cup, and nearly everything that didn’t need to be done at the Euros," Mbappe affirmed.
"It is up to us to take the right conclusions, to get our heads screwed back on and push on for something greater."
