Mbappe Ready for first PSG appearance after World Cup

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World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe has been named in Paris Saint-Germain’s squad for the first time this season as the French champions go to Guingamp in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

Mbappe did not play in their league opener, a 3-0 win over Caen last weekend, having only returned to training a few days earlier following a post-World Cup holiday.

The 19-year-old, who scored one of France’s goals in their 4-2 win over Croatia in last month’s final in Moscow, will hope to feature alongside Neymar in the PSG attack in Brittany.

However, Edinson Cavani is again missing as he continues his recovery from a calf injury suffered during Uruguay’s run to the quarter-finals in Russia.

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Also named in PSG’s squad is Thilo Kehrer, the Germany under-21 defender who completed a reported 37 million-euro ($42.3 million) move to the French capital from Schalke on Thursday, signing a five-year deal.

Kehrer will hope to quickly break into Thomas Tuchel’s side, but the German coach has left his compatriots Kevin Trapp and Julian Draxler out of his squad for the game.

Thomas Tuchel will not put any pressure on Kylian Mbappe in terms of goals and assists targets for Paris Saint-Germain this season following the teenage forward’s World Cup heroics for France.

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Mbappe scored a superb goal in Les Bleus’ 4-2 final triumph over Croatia in Moscow last month, crowning a stellar tournament in which he was named FIFA’s Best Young Player.

Along with the rest of France’s stars from Russia 2018 in the PSG squad, Mbappe is available to return to club action in Saturday’s trip to Guingamp.

Head coach Tuchel appreciates the next steps of the 19-year-old’s career are highly anticipated and he sees his own role, in part, as one of managing expectations.

“He is 19 years old and an incredible talent,” he told a pre-match news conference. “I do not expect from him in terms of how many goals, how many assists – more development personally.

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“After his big success and the big role he played in the World Cup, now being here in the second year it is very important that we guide him on his way, keep him straightforward, calm him down when it’s needed and push him when he’s needed.

“That’s more what I want from him in terms of development instead of this amount of goals or this amount of assists.”

Tuchel led members of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning generation at Borussia Dortmund and acknowledged players with more experience than Mbappe have sometimes struggled after conquering the game’s summit.

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