Kylian Mbappe: The ‘phenomenon that breathes and sleeps football’

Situated in a lavish corner of France, AS Monaco’s famed football academy has produced some of the game’s biggest stars.

Four integral parts of France’s historic World Cup-winning team of 1998 — Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram, Emmanuel Petit and David Trezeguet — were nurtured there.

But there is a new star who has since emerged and has the capacity to surpass them all: Kylian Mbappe.

The teenager arguably shone brighter than any other player in Russia, winning the young player of the tournament award and leading his country to only its second World Cup triumph. And all this at the age of 19.

Ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final between France and Croatia, CNN Sport spoke to Vadim Vasilyev, AS Monaco’s vice-president, who played a key role in Mbappe signing his first professional contract with the Ligue 1 club.

“When I first heard about him my colleagues said: ‘Look, we have a very talented boy, we have to sign him.’ So I said: ‘What’s the problem? Let’s sign him.’ They said it wasn’t easy and it turned out there were some complications.

“He was not really very happy and actually he wanted to go. I started seeing his parents and watching him in training and I sent him to the first team to train with our coach (Leonardo) Jardim. They said: ‘Wow, how come this boy is in our academy and I didn’t know about it.’ We built a relationship of trust and then he signed his pro contract.”

“Two years ago, or perhaps even more, I knew that he was a phenomenon. It’s not just ‘very good,’ it’s not ‘top,’ it’s a phenomenal player.

“He has all the ingredients, then of course it all went very quickly; becoming French champion with us, going to the semifinal of the Champions League and now the World Cup. It all went quick for sure but if you know the quality he has and the kind of person he is, then I’m not surprised really.

“Of course it happened more quickly than anybody could have envisaged, even himself, that’s for sure. But he’s doing it at this level and I’m not surprised at all. He did it at academy level, Ligue 1 level, then two years (seasons) ago he did it in the Champions League, the famous game against Manchester City where he exploded.

“He played against Manchester City on an amazing level in front of the whole football world. It just confirmed what we knew all along, it’s an amazing talent and this boy will become one of the best — if he isn’t already — one of the best in world.”

“He breathes football, sleeps football, actually nothing else is on his mind. He didn’t even go out when we won the title two years ago.

“All the boys went celebrating and he was so tired he just went home. He is really dedicated and he has a very competitive spirit, he wants to break all the records.

“He reminds me a bit of Cristiano Ronaldo, because I also know him well, because he knows all the records and he always wants to be the youngest player on the pitch to score, the youngest player to win this cup, to win the title.

“So he’s a good competitor, he’s also stubborn and if he doesn’t play he feels bad. He’s, like, sick if he doesn’t play. He also has a great family, I know the mother and father well, I saw the father yesterday.

“They’re an amazing family supporting him. They’re next to him, are very intelligent people and are a really good healthy family, so all the ingredients (are there).

“When you talk to him you don’t talk to a 19-year-old boy, you talk to a 30 or 25 year-old at least. There’s the maturity. Trying to find a weak point, I can’t. Then of course you can never say how long will it take him to win the Ballon d’Or, but he will be there soon for sure.”

“I spoke to him, we spent some time together after we won the French title, he always had it in him. He knew this would happen, he didn’t know how and when but he believed in himself and he knew his destiny is to become a big, big, big player and he’s very sure of himself.

“It’s like he knew, he always worked so hard and now it’s happening and, of course, it happened fast but he had it inside. But this is your destiny and he was ready. He was, of course, surprised that it happened so quickly but in the end he was ready because that’s what he was always thinking, dreaming, working for. He knew he would do it, one day he would do it.”

 

 

courtesy : cnn.com
photo : Google News – Overview

 

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