De Bruyne: Mbappe can star for 15 years By Jeremy Wilson
Kevin De Bruyne has revealed that he had never heard of France striker Kylian Mbappe less than 18 months ago but that he now expects football’s second-most expensive player to be a world star for the next 15 years.
Although Mbappe was already widely regarded by scouts and managers as the outstanding teenage talent in Europe when Monaco knocked De Bruyne’s Manchester City out of the Champions League last year, the Belgian admitted that he had no knowledge of a player who would move that summer to Paris St-germain.
Two of the World Cup’s outstanding players will now go head-tohead tonight in St Petersburg, with De Bruyne aware of the threat that Mbappe will pose.
“He had only played about 10 matches and at that time I didn’t know him,” said De Bruyne. “Now he has played a lot for France, a lot in the Champions League.
“He is a different player, a star for the next 15 years and I think he can even improve.”
De Bruyne also admitted that it felt like a “now or never” moment for this Belgium squad who, after reaching quarter-finals at the past two international tournaments, have already take a step forward in beating Brazil last Friday to reach the last four.
France manager Didier Deschamps made a point yesterday of also highlighting the contribution of Marc Wilmots, saying that Roberto Martinez had “benefited” from the work of his predecessor as Belgium manager.
Martinez did not disagree, but stressed the importance of working on a team ethic over the past two years, in which time his side have been on an unbeaten run that now stretches to 24 games.
“This is a team, not individuals,” said Martinez. “That has been a process. They wanted to be a team, not use the national team to improve the brand. It is a group of people who want to share the vision of making Belgium football proud and to achieve something important. That has taken two years. We allow our individuals to make the difference but shared effort has been the key.”
De Bruyne said that the example of trailblazers such as Marouane Fellaini and Vincent Kompany in forging careers abroad had been key. A total of 40 of the 92 World Cup semi-finalists now play their football in the Premier League.
“I think he [Martinez] built on the potential,” said De Bruyne. “He brought us together with more belief, more a feeling of trust.”