At 24, explosive Mbappe is just scratching surface of greatness

Few players can boast of Kylian Mbappe’s achievements at age 24… the Paris Saint-Germain striker just turned 24 yesterday, less than 48 hours after he made history by becoming the second player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

In total, the brilliant Frenchman has scored 12 World Cup goals in 14 matches and is level with Brazil legend Pele in sixth on the all-time list, leaving Qatar with the top scorer award. 

However, his finals performance was worthy of the trophy, but leaving Qatar without the World Cup trophy, which he won four years ago as a teenager in Russia, is undoubtedly heart-wrenching for the proven winner. 

Though his heroics were somewhat in vain in the grand scheme of things, the PSG man remains defiant and confident of making his mark again at the World Cup, leaving a simple message hours after the defeat, “We will return,” with the French flag.

“It’s a record World Cup. I would have preferred for him (Mbappe) to have scored, but there a lot of records have been made by players who were there,” France coach Didier Deschamps stated after the match.

“But Kylian put his footprint on this final, but not quite the footprint he wanted. His sadness at the end of the match is just like the rest of the players.”

Mbappe was born and raised in Bondy, a suburb of Paris 11 kilometres from the city centre. He spent two years playing for Monaco, where he caught global attention, but he has lived in the French capital his entire life.

Mbappe’s football numbers are astounding, to say the least. In 380 games, he has scored 265 goals and 135 assists. He has scored 36 goals for Les Bleus (he is sixth all-time), 190 goals for PSG and 27 for AS Monaco -- compared to some of the greatest players at the same age, Lionel Messi (197), Cristiano Ronaldo (132), Karim Benzema, and Thierry Henry (89).  

Mbappe, and his explosive football style, can change how the game is played forever. Blessed with pace, strength, and finishing abilities that would rival some of the greatest in history and an outstanding market value, the stage will undoubtedly belong to the Frenchman as Messi and Ronaldo’s era fade away.

At 24, he was on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid football players – expected to bank a whopping $128 million in annual earnings.

With a World Cup title, UEFA Nations League, five French league titles, and four Coup de la Ligue, Mbappe’s trophy cabinet is impressive, but the 24-year-old still lacks individual accolades. 

Mbappe still has a long way to go before he matches the legacies of Ronaldo and Messi. However, at his age, he’s done things that those other superstars have so far failed to do – the Ballon d’Or and FIFA Best are just around the corner.