After the release of Kylian Mbappé, who believes that central defender is the simplest position in football, Samuel Umtiti did not hesitate to respond to his former teammate.
An exchange that has sparked a lot of discussion. Invited to the podcast The Bridge by Aurélien Tchouaméni, alongside Achraf Hakimi, Kylian Mbappé swept through many topics, stating, among other things, that he held no grudges against PSG, that he didn’t enjoy interviews very much, and that he acknowledged being “a player who defends less”, which didn’t sit well with some Spanish media.
The captain of the French national team was also asked to compare the difficulty of various positions, and he believed that the central defender position is the simplest in football. “You are covered on all sides, you can even play in a back three! And if you’re the one in midfield in that case… Those are the only positions where you see 40-year-old players still playing in Europe, at top clubs,” he explained.
“That’s often what attackers say”
Samuel Umtiti, his former teammate at the French national team who has become a consultant, does not share the same viewpoint at all, as he explained on RMC, saying, “That’s often what attackers say. But in defense, it’s completely different. You make a mistake and you pay for it, so it’s not necessarily the easiest position.”
For the former Lyon and Barcelona defender, as well as former player for Lecce and Lille, “you have to be much more concentrated than an attacker who can make mistakes ten times in a match, and it won’t matter.”
“I’m going to talk to him about it”
“Me, who played in this position, believe me it’s very complicated,” continued the 2018 World Cup champion, who will be in the commentary booth for M6 during the World Cup. “When you defend with three, you have more security, yes, but you’re still a defender. If you lose a duel, you know the attacker can go straight to goal and it’s over. Kylian knows that. I don’t even know why he said that, I think I’m going to talk to him about it,” he concluded, laughing.
