Kylian Mbappé did not set foot inside Real Madrid’s Valdebebas complex on Tuesday or Wednesday, Spanish television programme El Chiringuito reported late on Wednesday night, with the claim picked up across the Madrid football press on Thursday morning.

The France captain was instead filmed in Paris alongside Spanish actress Ester Expósito.

Mbappé picked up the injury on Friday 25 September at Kocaeli Stadium in Izmit, where he scored the only goal of France’s 1-0 UEFA Nations League win against Turkey before being replaced by Désiré Doué. Real Madrid confirmed the next day that he had been diagnosed with “hyperextension of the posterior capsule of his left knee” and that “his recovery will be monitored.”

Konaté and Valverde chose Madrid

The question is not whether Mbappé is injured. He is. It is why he is not at the club recovering.

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“Mbappe has not been to Valdebebas for the last two days,” reporter Marcos Benito said on air.

“It is a mystery. He comes back injured from France, but he is not recovering at the training ground.”

Ibrahima Konaté and Fede Valverde, both carrying their own problems through the international break, have been using the club’s medical staff. Mbappé has not.

Spanish outlet ElDesmarque reported that the Real Madrid striker was spotted dining in the French capital with Expósito on Wednesday evening, and noted that this is not the first awkward overlap: in May, he travelled to Italy with the actress while injured during Real Madrid’s run-in.

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Return targeted at El Clásico

The club has not publicly addressed why its captain is not training on site. Combined with the video of the Paris outing, that silence has fed Thursday’s Spanish headlines, with Goal.com asking whether Mbappé feigned the injury.

The expected absence runs between 10 and 14 days, according to Spanish reporting, with Al Jazeera citing a two-week timeline on the French federation’s reading of the injury. That makes the LaLiga trip to Villarreal on 10 October a doubt and leaves El Clásico at Spotify Camp Nou on 25 October as the realistic return date.

Real Madrid’s next scheduled training session is on Friday.

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