Kylian Mbappé: the new generation world star

Debut at the age of 16

Kyllian Mbappé Lottin was born on December 20, 1998, in the outskirts of Paris. He started his career at the amateur club AS Bondy, where his father was coach. Mbappé’s mother was a professional handball player at the same sports association. The young Kylian played at AS Bondy and at INF Clairfontaine until the age of 14. INF Clairfontaine is a football institution that helps young talents securing a transfer to a professional football club.

This association is very famous in France. One of Mbappé’s role models – Thierry Henry – was trained by INF Clairfontaine. Mbappé’s time came at 14 years old: he departed for the youth training programme of AS Monaco. Only two years later – on the second of December 2015 – the 16-year-old attacker made his Ligue 1 debut against Caen. He broke Henry’s record of AS Monaco’s youngest debutant ever. He broke another record of Henry’s one year after; the youngest goal scorer. That same year, Mbappé became a fixed player at AS Monaco.

The way to the top at AS Monaco

In 2016, the 18-year-old Mbappé became a key player at AS Monaco. He scored his first two hattricks in the season of 2016/17 and he and his team won the national championship a year later. The young attacker scored 15 goals and made 12 assists in 29 matches this season. The football star was also allowed to participate in the Champions League this year and scored a total of six goals. Manchester City, amongst others, were defeated.

From that season on, every top club was captivated by the young Frenchman’s talents and they all did everything they could to buy the star. In the end, PSG was the lucky one. Mbappé was recruited through a rent-to-buy construction. A total sum of 180 million euros was spend on this transfer. PSG bought Neymar that same year for 222 million euros.

Mbappé at PSG

Kylian Mbappé made his debut at powerhouse PSG when he was only 19 years old. In a match against Metz, he scored immediately. Less than a week later, he scored his first European goal for the Parisian club. They wiped away the Scottish Celtic with a final score of 5-0. He won three national titles the first season he played at PSG: Ligue 1, Coupe de la Ligue, and Coupe de France. He scored 13 goals and made eight assists in 27 league matches.

Mbappé became an unreplaceable super star during his second season at PSG. He even scored more goals than he played games! He scored 33 goals and made 14 assists in 30 competitions. This made him Ligue 1 Player of the Year. An unprecedented accomplishment for a 20-year-old. Another insane thing happened that same year; Mbappé scored four goals in 13 minutes. He also did well in European matches: he scored four goals in eight matches. In that year – 2018 – he won the Kopa Trophy for best player under 21.

The young star made his way to the top the following years. He kept on winning national titles, scored several hattricks and was awarded the prize of best player of the season in Ligue 1 in 2019. Moreover, Mbappé became world’s youngest player to score five goals in the Champions League of 2020. However, his individual quality has not been enough yet to win the Champions League title. Despite of the dream team of PSG, which include Messi and Neymar, the Parisian club never managed to win The Cup With The Big Ears.

Mbappé to join up with France squad

In 2017, Mbappé made his debut in the French national team. He scored his first international goal in the same year against the Netherlands. A great preparation, as France took part in the 2018 World Cup in Russia with Mbappé. By scoring against Peru in the group stage, the fast attacker was the youngest scoring player at a World Cup for Les Blues. In the round of 16, they faced Argentina. Partly due to two goals by Mbappé, the match ended 4-3. In the end, they won the World Cup by beating Croatia, and guess who scored one of the winning goals ... Kylian Mbappé also won the award for best young player in the World Cup.

After an unsuccessful 2020 European Championship, in which the French player didn’t score once, the 2022 World Cup in Qater changed everything. Mbappé basically led the formidable French team to the World Cup finals. He scored a total of eight goals, including three in the final against Argentina. The French lost after a penalty series.

Mbappé to Real Madrid?

Kylian Mbappé does not seem to be completely happy at PSG. Things are not going so well between him and Neymar and in addition, he is frustrated about the club’s fluctuating results in the Champions League. The Frenchman was on the verge of leaving PSG for Real Madrid in the summer of 2022, but the transfer didn’t pull through. PSG doesn’t want to lose Mbappé, so they simply pay him a salary and give him bonuses he can’t refuse.

Despite of PSG’s refusal to cooperate with transferring Mbappé, experts still believe it’s a matter of time before Mbappé departs for Los Blancos. The French star would love to and rumour has it that Madrid will offer a great sum to PSG in order to buy him in the summer o2023. Approximately a billion euros is said to have been set aside for this. Whether they will succeed remains to be seen. Mbappé’s contract at PSG runs until 2025.