When Kylian Mbappé burst onto the scene in the 2016/17 season, his capacity for potential was clear. In one season, he helped AS Monaco to not only de-throne PSG after a four-year reign as French champions, but also to take his club to their first Champions League semi-final in 13 years.
In doing so, he broke several (of Thierry Henry’s) records, such as being Monaco’s youngest player and scorer. According to StatsKMbappe, in his first 100 games for club and country, he scored 39 and provided 31 assists – an enviable tally for even the most seasoned frontmen. Goal involvements in his next 100 games increased by 50%, scoring 75 goals and providing 30 assists. On average, he was involved in more than one goal per game.
But he never became a victim of his unstoppable rise. Even after he became the world’s second most expensive football player in 2018 (bought for €180m by PSG after a year’s loan), Mbappé continued to boost his numbers. By this point, he had secured a second star on the jerseys of Les Bleus after a dazzling World Cup performance in Russia, becoming the youngest scorer in a World Cup final since the late Pelé in 1958, 60 years before.
In his next 100 matches, he scored five fewer but turned provider on four more occasions, with 70 goals plus 34 assists equalling 1.04 goal involvements per game, and he is already well on his way to smashing the aforementioned tally in his next century of games. Mbappé currently sits on 65 goals and 20 assists in just the last 64 games.
Despite another legendary performance in the 2022 World Cup Final in Qatar, in which he scored a hat-trick, Mbappé was unsuccessful in leading the French to a coveted third star, as Didier Deschamps’ men capitulated in a penalty shoot-out against Argentina. But if Mbappé’s current statistics are anything to go by, it will be no surprise to see the French continue to compete at future World Cups. After all, Mbappé has only just turned 24.
Brendan Cox | GFFN
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