First came Thierry Henry. Then Zinédine Zidane. Now, it’s Kylian Mbappe’s turn to be France’s top soccer player. Now, I don’t normally talk about soccer. But, when I see someone who has that same star quality of Mbappe, it just has to be recognized.
Kylian Mbappé Lottin was welcomed into the world on December 20th, 1998, just a few months after their World Cup win. His mom, Fayza Lamari, had a successful career in handball. His dad, Wilfried Mbappé, was a coach and is now Mbappé’s agent. Kylian grew up about 20 minutes away from Paris (if you were driving) in Bondy. When he was able to start playing soccer, he quickly became one of the top child prodigies. His father was a coach at AS Bondy, where Mbappé would start gaining his fame. After that, he moved on to Clairefontaine Academy so he could gain even more attention from big name clubs. Other famous players like former Juventus star Blaise Matuidi and Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud also used Clairefontaine as a stepping stone for singing to top flight teams.
He was offered by many French and non-French teams. In the end though, he decided to sign a three year contract with AS Monaco in July of 2013. Mind you, he was just 14 years old when he signed on the dotted line. If that doesn’t give you any perspective on just how good Mbappe is, I don’t know what does. He made his debut with the club on December 2nd, 2015 against Caen. When he subbed in for Fabio Coentrão, he became the youngest player in AS Monaco history in a few decades. Oh, and by the way, he broke another record, becoming the youngest goal-scorer at Monaco at 17 years and 62 days. He scored a beauty on his left foot and past the keeper in a 3-1 win over ESTAC Troyes. After those games, he never looked back. In his 3 seasons with Monaco, he had 16 goals and 8 assists.
Then, a French powerhouse came knocking, Paris Saint-Germain. They have won 7 league trophies in the past 8 seasons and have won each of the last 6 Trophée des Champions Cups. When PSG offered him a four-year contract worth over $200,000,000, it was an offer he just could not refuse. Now, you would think that it would be really hard for Mbappé to fit into a starting 11 filled with big-name players including winger Neymar, striker Mauro Icardi and goalkeeper Kaylor Navas. Furthermore, your home stadium is 22 minutes away from where you grew up. Those two factors could lead to a lot of stress. In the end, that wasn’t the case at all for Kylian. Throughout his four year career with PSG so far, he has 82 goals and 27 assists. I think it’s safe to say he’s really made his mark with the club, but what about the country?
Since he got called up to the French national team in 2017, he’s been a mainstay in a potent starting 11 filled with starpower. These include Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba and Barcelona forward Antonie Griezmann. In particular, the 2018 World Cup was really where he showed out. He scored 4 goals in 7 matches, including a brace against Argentina in the Round of 16 and a goal in the World Cup final. With that goal, he became the 2nd youngest goal scorer in a World Cup final. And guess who’s the 1st, the legendary Pele. Think about that for a second. Kylian Mbappe shares the record books with Thierry Henry and the aforementioned Pele. Those two players are some of the greatest to ever step foot on a football pitch. If you share the record books with those types of players, you should be recognized in some form. Yes, there are the Ronaldo’s and Messi’s of the world as well, but Mbappé is right there with them.
So, the next time you see Mbappé on the pitch, think about his story and how hard he worked to get where he’s at. The one thing that I want you to take away from his story is that don’t be nervous when you’re surrounded by people who are exponentially better than you. You just have to put the pedal to the metal and work just as hard as them to be on their level.