Boy wonder who had a trial with Chelsea

DIEGO MARADONA calls him ‘the revelation of soccer’, and he has already been invited to dine with French president Emmanuel Macron. In the last 16 of the World Cup against Argentina, France’s Kylian Mbappe became the first teenager since Pele in 1958 to score at least twice in a game at the tournament. After another quicksilver outing in the semi-final against Belgium, he can now become a World Cup winner at the age of 19 if France beat Croatia in Moscow tomorrow. Mbappe was not even born when France last won the World Cup in 1998 but he shares a link with many of those players such as Marcel Desailly, Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane, who unified the nation 20 years ago. Born to a Cameroonian father and Algerian mother, Mbappe is the product of immigration. He grew up amid the concrete tower blocks on the outskirts of Paris. The suburbs of Bondy remain scorned by parts of French society, but in football these young men find cause for hope. His father Wilfried worked as a paid coach at local club AS Bond for more than 20 years and Mbappe began there at the age of five. In Bondy, Mbappe is now the poster boy for a region and a new generation. His face adorns a giant billboard on one of those concrete blocks, with the slogan: ‘Bondy, ville des possibles’ (the town where anything is possible). Mbappe’s first coach Antonio Riccardi said: ‘I remember him saying, “I’m going to play for France and win the World Cup”. We were laughing because he was only six.’ Mbappe has the pace of a young Michael Owen, the stepovers of a teenage Cristiano Ronaldo and coolheadedness in front of goal that has been likened to Lionel Messi. As he continued to develop, interest came from home and abroad. For English football, there are th the usual l stories t i of f nearmisses. Aged 11, he was invited to Chelsea for a trial. He spent a week at the club’s Cobham training ground, meeting Didier Drogba and playing in an 8-0 win over Charlton. Arsene Wenger met Mbappe for talks last summer while Mbappe says he said ‘no’ to Manchester City. ity. Manchester United nited scouted Mbappe ppe but manager Louis van Gaal l could not be persuaded. Former assistant manager Ryan Giggs said: ‘I watched Mbappe and Gabriel Jesus for a year. I watched hed them with the e scout and it was a no-brainer. It was just like, “Get them.” It would have been £5million or something. Get them.’ There was a snub, too, for Real Madrid despite meeting Zidane and Ronaldo. Instead, Mbappe spent two years at Clairefontaine, the national football centre, before joining Monaco at 14. He Poster boy: young Mbappe had pictures of Cristiano Ronaldo on his wall and met his hero too (left) L’EQUIPE made his debut on December 2, 2015, breaking Thierry Henry’s record as the club’s youngest player at 16 years and 347 days. At Monaco, the young starlet dismantled French defences, scoring 26 goals in his first full season as they won the title. The boy wonder moved to PSG last summer for £166m. Some questioned Mbappe, wondering whether money was the reason for the move. Yet those who know him insist he remains grounded. President Macron invited Mbappe and Drogba for lunch with the new Liberia president, G George Weah. T They discus discussed football in Africa A and ob observers re reflected that th the 19 19-year-old belied his age with mature ob observations. Mb Mbappe has don donated his £17,00 £17,000 France match fees fe to a charity for d disabled children and, last month, financed a trip to Russia for children from his local school. For 10 days, the 25 teenagers toured Moscow and attended France’s draw with Denmark. Mbappe also spent time with them. ‘You never think you’re speaking to a teenager when you speak to him,’ Wenger said.