Kylian Mbappe is ‘yet to reach peak fitness’ for Paris Saint-Germain this season after missing the club’s pre-season summer tour as the Frenchman prepares to face Newcastle in the Champions League this week.
Despite scoring eight goals in seven matches across all competitions so far for PSG, sources suggest the French superstar is still chasing his best form.
According to L’Équipe, the PSG attacker is paying the price for ‘three weeks without rhythm’ when the first team went to Japan for their pre-season tour.
After refusing to extend his stay at the club beyond the 2023/24 season, manager Luis Enrique left the superstar at home before the season began.
The French paper claimed this absence has affected the player’s ability to recover in between games – which is crucial to his ‘explosiveness’.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe reacts during their encounter with Clermont Foot 63
Newcastle United players celebrate during their 2-0 win over Burnley on Saturday ahead of their meeting with PSG in the Champions League
Despite beating Marseille 4-0 on September 24, PSG stalled their progress with a goalless draw against Clermont on Saturday.
This comes off the back of a shocking 3-2 defeat at home to Nice on September 15.
Without the creative spark of Lionel Messi and Neymar, Mbappe is being asked to play a slightly different role to last season dropping deeper to fill the playmaker role.
Balancing this alongside his darting runs in behind the defence, it is certainly a physically demanding role for the 24-year-old.
The Parisian Ligue 1 champions will nonetheless be looking towards their clash with the Magpies on Wednesday night this week at Saint James’s Park.
Newcastle will be relishing this type of night under the lights, however, they will be without Joelinton who joins Sven Botman and Callum Wilson on the injury list.
Saturday’s 2-0 win over Burnley was tinged by the sight of Joelinton being forced off with a hamstring problem four minutes after coming on. He had only just returned from a knee layoff.
Sven Botman and Callum Wilson were already missing with knee and hamstring issues respectively, while Anthony Gordon picked up his fifth booking of the season and is now suspended for next weekend’s trip to West Ham.
Mbappe attempts a shot during the 0-0 draw with Clermont on Saturday
According to L’Équipe, the PSG attacker is paying the price for ‘three weeks without rhythm’ when the first team went to Japan for their pre-season tour
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