A rift appears to have opened up within the French national team between two of its biggest stars,Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé,over allegations that the former paid a sorcerer to cast a spell on the latter to injure him - stunningly made by his own flesh and blood.
Pogba,who left Manchester United at the end of last season to return to Juventus,denies the claims and alleges they stem from a bizarre extortion plot which seems to have implicated his elder brother,Mathias,who has promised to expose the truth about the 29-year-old - who he says is a “so-called Muslim deep in witchcraft”,a “hypocrite” and a “traitor”.
France is in Group D with Australia,Denmark and Tunisia at the World Cup in Qatar later this year and,as reigning champions,are widely expected to top the group. But not only do World Cup winners historically struggle to back up four years later,Les Bleus also have an unfortunate history of self-implosion at major tournaments - and these strange hints of dressing-room disunity may yet grow into something much bigger over the coming weeks.
French newspaperL’Équipe is reporting that if concrete evidence of the witch doctor plot emerges,Mbappé will refuse to play with Pogba,and that manager Didier Deschamps may have to choose between the team’s biggest attacking threat and most important midfielder.
It all started over the weekend when Mathias,32,who is also a professional footballer,posted videos on social media in four different languages in which he promised “great revelations” about Paul and his new agent,Rafaela Pimenta,who has been looking after his affairs since the passing of Mino Raiola,his former representative.
Mathias said,“the French,Italian and English public,my brother’s fans,and even more the French national team,the Juventus team,my brother’s teammates and his sponsors deserve to know certain things.”