Already? Yes, already. The French star is a World Cup icon at 24
“Do I feel under pressure heading into the World Cup? No. For me, football is all about pleasure. A World Cup comes along once every four years. You can’t afford to let it pass you by.”
Those were Kylian Mbappe’s words to FourFourTwo at the beginning of 2018. Five years later, he has ensured that his name will be linked with the tournament forever.
It should be far too early for Mbappe to earn consideration for a list such as this. But the 24-year-old could retire this month and still leave a legacy that will stand the test of time. Who knows where he will rank when his playing days come to an end?
A much-discussed prodigy since his early days in Monaco’s first team, Mbappe didn’t even make some of France’s squads in the younger age groups. At the Under-17s Euros in 2015, for instance, Odsonne Edouard, Jonathan Ikone and the brilliantly-named Maxime Pelican got the nod ahead of him.
Two years later, the speedstar stunned Manchester City in the Champions League, helped Monaco to win Ligue 1, joined Paris Saint-Germain for £166 million and won the Golden Boy award as the world’s best starlet.
Four more French titles have followed, though each one pales into insignificance next to his historic World Cup triumph in 2018, as the first teenager to score in the final since Pele, having outshone Lionel Messi in the last 16. A pleasure indeed.
Mbappe backed up his words to FFT again in Qatar, rising to the occasion on the biggest stage, which always
