Kylian Mbappe in 'deep hostility' with teammate as Real Madrid star snubbed for award

Kylian Mbappe reportedly shares “deep hostility” with his former France teammate Karim Benzema. French press claims Benzema omitted the Real Madrid star from his nominations for the French Footballer of the Year award.

Mbappe ultimately won the prize, but the fallout focused on Benzema's decision to vote for three other candidates. The veteran striker, who now plays for Al-Ittihad, has reportedly named Eduardo Camavinga, Bradley Barcola and William Saliba.

Today's print edition of L'Equipe claims that Benzema's choices come down to his personal feelings towards Mbappé. It is claimed he feels “deep hostility” towards the 25-year-old. It is not clear why this is the case.

However, even Mbappe admitted that Arsenal defender Saliba would have been a deserved recipient of the precious gong. “We have to be fair, William Saliba would also have deserved to win this trophy,” Mbappé told France Football, who presented the prize.

It is also worth noting that former Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante has reportedly chosen to exclude Mbappé from his nominations. The 33-year-old, who plays alongside Benzema in Saudi Arabia, would have voted, in order, for Saliba, Joules Kounde and Camavinga.

Mbappe has had a difficult start to life at Real Madrid following his free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain over the summer. He has scored nine goals in La Liga, but only three of them in his last six appearances.

Carlo Ancelotti has struggled to integrate his star players into a cohesive system. Mbappé, who is at his best on the left wing, has been forced to play as a center forward for much of the campaign.

The French captain missed a crucial penalty in Los Blancos' 2-0 Champions League defeat to Liverpool last month. It was also poor as Real were beaten 4-0 by Barcelona in the first El Clasico of the campaign.

“He is not at his best, but we have to give him time to adapt,” Ancelotti said last week. “He can do better and he’s working to get there.

“It's not a funeral, we are still fighting in all competitions. We have to be optimistic, bearing in mind the problems we have and have had. But we have to be optimistic because we have a team of quality We haven't been able to get back to our best form, but I'm convinced that we will get there sooner or later.”