Moscow: Diego Maradona has called him ‘the revelation of soccer’, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger fondly has dubbed him the ‘new Pele’ and he has already been invited to dine at the Elysee with the French President Emmanuel Macron. Meet Kylian Mbappe who was not even born when France won the World Cup for the first time in 1998.
In the World Cup quarterfinals Mbappe became the first teenager since Brazilian Pele in 1958 to score at least twice in a game at the tournament. He can now become a World Cup winner at the age of only 19 if France defeat Croatia, Sunday.
Born to a Cameroonian father and Algerian mother, Mbappe is the product of immigration and he grew up amid the 1960s concrete tower blocks on the outskirts of Paris. The banlieues of Bondy are only a short drive from Paris but bear little in common with the largesse and affluence of the Champs-Elysee. His father Wilfried worked as a paid coach at local club AS Bondy – in the 10th tier of French football – for over 20 years and Mbappe began there at the age of five.
Now in Bondy, Mbappe is now the poster-boy for a region, an identity and a new generation. His face adorns a giant billboard on one of those concrete blocks, accompanied by the slogan: ‘Bondy, ville des possibles’ (The town where anything is possible).
Mbappe believes that too. “It is possible to win the World Cup. I want that to happen, no matter what. I just want to sleep with Cup in my hands,” Mbappe told French reporters a couple of days back.
His first coach Antonio Riccardi recalled: “I remember him saying ‘I’m going to play for France and win the World Cup’. We were laughing because he was only six years old then.”
Mbappe’s qualities are immediately clear. He has the pace of a young Michael Owen, the step-overs of a teenage Cristiano Ronaldo and a cool-headedness in front of goal that has been likened to Lionel Messi. As he continued to develop, the interest of the world has grown around him.
The boy wonder moved to Paris Saint-Germain last summer in a £166mn transfer that began as a loan. Some questioned Mbappe, wondering whether the financial prospects of PSG were a smarter move than Real Madrid or the Premier League.
Mbappe has donated his £17,000 international match fees to a charity for disabled children and, last month, he financed a trip to Russia for children from his local school, ‘College Jean Renoir’. “You never think you’re speaking to an 18-year-old when you speak to him,” Wenger said. “He could become the next Pele. He has no limits.”
The boy wonder, however, doesn’t want to be a Pele. “My name is Kylian Mbappe,” he said.