Thierry Henry lays down challenge for Real Madrid – ‘I imagined as much, I never stopped at the first no.'

France under-23 coach Thierry Henry, who will be coaching their side at the Paris 2024 Olympics, has made it clear he will not give up on bringing in players for the tournament, despite the reluctance of clubs. This comes a day after Didier Deschamps revealed that Real Madrid had sent a letter to the French Football Federation that they would not be ceding their players for the tournament.

That affects Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga, but amid talk of Kylian Mbappe joining Los Blancos this summer, many have wondered if the world-class forward might also be out of the games. He has in the past openly declared a desire to take part in the Games, which are in his home city.

Henry was clear that he would not be giving up on getting Mbappe a gold medal though.

“The Real Madrid thing? I imagined as much. Clubs abroad do not have the same situation as us in France. “The French clubs will be there to help, but for foreign clubs it is normal that there is this no,” Henry told the French press, as covered by Diario AS.

On Mbappe in particular, he had the following to say.

“We still don’t know where he’s going to go. We know he’s going to leave, so we’ll see what happens. What we want is to have the best team but we have no certainties. Everyone wants to come. Whether that is possible… that is another debate.”

“I never stopped at the first no. We’ll see what we can do. We will try to see if we can discuss, if we can be received… It is not easy. We do not want to be defeatist, but the decision remains with the clubs. I know exactly the positions for which I want to bring people over 23 years old in. I’ll keep the names for myself…”

Although Henry might be willing to force the issue, Mbappe is not. As was confirmed to Football España, the 25-year-old will not go to war with Los Blancos over the matter, and will accept the decision that Real Madrid take. It would be a major loss for the Olympics and a once in a lifetime opportunity for Mbappe, but understandably Real Madrid would be losing him for their preseason tour and likely several games in La Liga too.

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