France coach Didier Deschamps wants Kylian Mbappe to play fewer minutes for Paris Saint-Germain between the international break in September and the 2022 World Cup starting in November.
Mbappe is key to PSG’s attack, but the World Cup-winning coach wants him to arrive in Qatar full of energy.
“I know they want Kylian to play, but he needs to be allowed to breathe a little now and then,” declared Deschamps.
“He should play less minutes. It won’t hurt him, quite the opposite in fact.”
Mbappe has started each of PSG’s nine games in Ligue 1 and the Champions League so far this season, scoring an impressive total of 10 goals.
PSG coach Christophe Galtier could turn things back to Deschamps after Mbappe played the full 90 minutes as France beat Austria on Thursday and he started in their defeat to Denmark on Sunday as well.