Arsene Wenger has described the feeling and words that came to mind when he first saw Kylian Mbappe play.
The 20-year-old French international had the opportunity to join the Gunners under Wenger but has played his club football with AS Monaco and now Paris Saint-Germain.
The rise of Mbappe
- Career path: AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain
- He’s the most expensive teenage footballer in history (£133m).
- Senior club appearances (goals): 136 (77)
- Mbappe is the most prolific teenage goalscorer in Champions League history
- Youngest player since Pele to score in a World Cup final.
PSG in the summer of 2017 won Mbappe’s signature following heavy interest from a number of European super clubs including Real Madrid. The powers that be made the local boy, who grew up in Bondy, the most expensive teenage footballer in history when they paid AS Monaco an eye watering £133m.
He’s since repaid that figure having bagged 50 goals in 76 appearances whilst creating a further 29 for his teammates. Mbappe’s rise to prominence during the 2016/17 season earned him a call-up for France and under Didier Deschamps leadership they’d win the 2018 World Cup with Mbappe registering in their 4-2 final win over Croatia.
Before swapping Monaco for PSG there was a chance he could have instead played for Arsenal under former boss Wenger who hasn’t been surprised by his upward trajectory having followed the Parisian’s career from the early days.
Subscribe to Squawka’s Youtube channel: sqwk.at/Squawka-Sub
“When I saw him the first time in the first period, I said: ‘It’s Pele,'” he told CNN.
“He has a combination of pace, intelligence, relaxed attitude to deal with stress. You cannot give that to people.
“It looks like all the ingredients are there. Now for him, it’s how much does he continue to improve and how much can he keep a rigorous attitude to think: ‘Okay, where do I go from there.’
“When a guy is a world champion at 20 years of age, has won championships — two or three already — what can you say? And the numbers don’t lie. He’s an exceptional football player and France is gifted to have him.”
Mbappe in charge
The absence of Neymar, the world’s most expensive footballer, has placed even more burden on Mbappe’s shoulders though it’s fair to say he’s taken these newfound responsibilities in his stride.
So far this season PSG boss Thomas Tuchel has used him on no fewer than 32 occasions, across four different competitions, and Mbappe has subsequently registered 29 goals whilst creating 14 more.
His most notable goal, so far, came in PSG’s 2-0 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United. The results puts the Parisians in a commanding lead to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
The post Arsene Wenger: Three words sprang to mind the first time I saw Kylian Mbappe play appeared first on Squawka News.
From Squawka News https://ift.tt/2INLIC7
No comments:
Post a Comment