Emmanuel Petit speaks out: urging Griezmann and revealing reasons for France exit; Mbappe's absence will hurt PSGJacob Hansen, Senior Correspondent

After a decade representing Les Bleus, the Atletico Madrid star has decided to hang up his French jersey, making the European Championship his farewell tournament. Griezmann made 137 appearances for France, achieving an incredible record of 84 consecutive games played. Former teammate Petit expresses his utmost gratitude towards Griezmann for his dedication and contribution to the national team.

“I just want to tell him ‘Thank you very much, Antoine. You've done a great job for the national team. You were such a great player to watch’,” praises Petit who isn’t surprised by Griezmann’s retirement, though.

“His relationship with coach Didier Deschamps has changed a lot since Deschamps decided to give the captaincy to Kylian Mbappé instead of Griezmann. I don’t think he accepted that decision and you could see that the relationship wasn’t the same. 

“During the European Championship in June you could see that Griezmann was frustrated. He was changing position all the time, he was trying to help the team the best he could but he wasn't performing to his best because he was always moving positions on the pitch.

“Also, his communication changed a lot. During the competition he was answering to the criticism the national team was receiving with people saying they were quite boring to watch.

"Griezmann said he could understand the critics because it was quite boring to play as well,” says Petit who made it to 63 caps for France himself. It probably spelled the beginning of the end for the official Player of the Tournament at Euro 2016 in France. 

“The team that won in Russia was not the same anymore and it was not the first priority for Didier Deschamps to entertain. You could see that Griezmann was losing passion and confidence with Didier Deschamps.

"I think he did everything he could have done with the national team.”

Jury still out on Mbappé and PSG

Griezmann has never turned out for a French club, instead plying his trade in Spain, just as Kylian Mbappé now also does, following his summer move to Real Madrid. So far, his departure hasn’t left a huge dip in performances as PSG top the table on maximum points after six rounds. But what if one tries to look behind the numbers?

“Well, according to rumours in the press, on TV and even from former players, it seems everybody thought it was good news for Paris Saint-Germain that Mbappé left the club because it's not based on bling-bling players anymore. Now, Luis Enrique can focus on his work with the team. 

“Everybody is on the same line. There is not one player and then the rest of the team. Collectively, they seem to be better in terms of commitment, togetherness, things like this. You can see that the team has improved,” explains the former French champion with Monaco before sounding a bit of a warning.

“Mbappé is still a very good player, though, and when PSG are up against top teams in Europe, they will need top players to win games.

"We've seen positive signs of different players showing improvements. Dembélé, for example, Barcola is another. But is that enough to win big things at the end of the season?

"I want to be passionate, but I also want to see more of them against top teams before I tell you what I really think.” 

Emmanuel Petit was talking to Tribalfootball on behalf of BetBrain.