PARIS – Kylian Mbappe wanted to take part in the Olympics in his home city, while there were hopes Lionel Messi would feature for Argentina, but instead the men’s football tournament at the Paris Games will be devoid of star names.

As captain of France and the most famous athlete in the country hosting the 2024 Olympics, Mbappe’s presence in Thierry Henry’s squad would have been a boost for organisers as well as for the team’s chances of winning gold.

But the 25-year-old forward had to accept that his new club Real Madrid would not allow him to participate immediately after he played in the French side who reached the semi-finals of Euro 2024 in Germany.

That is the problem for the men’s football competition, which begins on July 24 and runs until Aug 9.

Clubs are not obliged to release players for a tournament held outside an official Fifa window for international football, following straight on from the European Championship and Copa America.

Messi, now 37 and part of the Argentina team who claimed Olympic gold at Beijing 2008, ruled himself out of Javier Mascherano’s squad for Paris shortly before the Copa, which his country won.

“I spoke with Mascherano, and we immediately agreed on the situation,” he told ESPN. “At my age, I don’t want to play everything and I need to make the right choices.”

Henry, a French footballing great, also missed out on several other players he had hoped to call up.

“The last time I had so many rejections was when I was at high school,” he joked when announcing a team in which the most recognisable names are Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette and new Bayern Munich signing Michael Olise.

The competition is restricted to players aged under 23, apart from a maximum of three overage players per squad.

As well as the superstar names, the tournament is also missing Brazil, who won gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and retained the title in Tokyo three years ago, beating Spain in the final.

They failed to qualify this time, and Argentina must fancy their chances of ensuring a sixth straight Latin American winner of the men’s football gold medal.

“Our objective is to try to compete and go all the way, and I think we will have a team that can do that,” said Mascherano, who won Olympic gold as a player in 2004 and 2008.

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