The decision to bench Mbappé was to protect him, says Monaco coach

The coach of Monaco, Portuguese Leonardo Jardim, said today that the decision to keep forward Kylian Mbappé on the bench throughout the match against Dijon last Sunday was made to "protect him" and not to "punish him".

"Mbappé sanctioned? Not at all, at this moment we must take care of him," said the coach during a press conference about the player's situation, who has recently shown interest in joining Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), according to French media.

The decision for the 18-year-old striker not to play a single minute in the 4-1 victory against Dijon was made thinking about the "well-being of the player and the team," added Jardim, who has already explained after the match that this idea was not his own, but Monaco's.

The prodigy of French football is waiting to decide his future and leave the Monegasque club, which has valued his transfer at 180 million euros, according to the French press.

PSG has offered him the second highest salary in the squad after Brazilian Neymar, 18 million euros net per year for 5 seasons, as reported by the newspaper "L'Équipe" on August 11.

However, this transfer clashes with the desire of the Principality club not to sell to a rival in the domestic championship, according to the press, to the point that its vice president, Vadim Vasilyev, stated that he doesn't even care about exhausting the deadline for the summer transfer market, which closes next day 31.