Every year it appears that a great French wonderkid, like Ousmane Dembelé, who moved to German giant Borussia Dortmund last summer, comes along. Nevertheless, this season is very special to Monaco, the club leading Ligue 1 and semi-finalist in the Champions League, and a lot of it is thanks to Kylian Mbappé.
The rising star
Mbappé has become the youngest player to score 13 goals in Ligue 1 for 30 years, usurping a certain Thierry Henry, despite making only 12 league starts under Leonardo Jardim. He was not finished there.
Last week, as the football world came to terms with the attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus and less than 24 hours earlier, Mbappé put on an irresistible display of pace, power and finishing to become the youngest player to score twice in Champions League history as he helped Monaco establish a 3-2 lead in the first leg of their quarter-final.
Last Wednesday, he showed how good he is again when he scored one goal and helped Monaco defeat Dortmund 3-1 and go to the semi-finals for the first time since 2004. He is also on the top scorers' list for the 2016/17 Champions League with 5 goals in the Champions League knockout stages, just like the Portuguese Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo.
In 2017, Mbappé has played 2017 minutes of football for Monaco this season. In addition, scored 22 goals, make eight assists. That makes a goal or assist every 67 minutes.
What is he like?
He has an old school footballer but one with a velvety touch, excellent control, imagination and the youthful exuberance to use his skill to beat defenders, twisting them twice before gliding past.
Mbappé switches positions intelligently with Radamel Falcao, allowing the Colombian captain to come out to the left. However, is at his best stretching that stride in eerily familiar style, taking the right back on the outside before cutting in and opening his body to shoot with his right foot, aiming for the far post, in the fashion that sparks memories of Henry.
The France national team have some of the best young players in the world with Mbappé alongside Dortmund's Dembelé, PSG's Adrien Rabiot and Presnel Kimpembe, Kingsley Coman of Bayern Munich, Manchester United’s Anthony Martial and Celtic’s youngest star Moussa Dembele. They can take France to a new level, one that could be very frightening for the rest of world football.