His father, Wilfried Mbappé, a Cameroonian, was a coach at the football school of the "Bondy" club, where young Kylian would later pursue football at a professional level. However, it should be noted that his mother had Algerian roots and was a professional handball player! Interestingly, as an adult, Kylian Mbappé, alongside former footballers George Weah and Didier Drogba, will launch a charity project aimed at developing football in African countries, building on their respective journeys.
Indeed, at the age of 13, the player caught the eye of Zinedine Zidane, who was then playing with the youth team of the "royal club". After an open conversation with his family, a collective decision was made to refuse the super transfer (if you can call it that). And only two years later, he signed his first youth contract with "Monaco" from the country of the same name, but with the right to participate in the annual French championship. We've heard this somewhere before...
It is one of the few football academies directly controlled by the French Football Federation and certainly the most renowned in its region! In the past, it has produced none other than Thierry Henry, and the current national team also includes several of its graduates, including Mbappé. Indeed, even today, several talents from there join Ligue 1 every year.
Let's go back to 2015, when the young talent played his first match in the French Ligue 1 under the aforementioned "Monaco" jersey. In fact, even then, he broke one of the records of the former Arsenal striker, becoming the youngest debutant in the club's history! Shortly after, in one of the many league matches, he scored a goal, thus winning the title of youngest goalscorer, once again surpassing Thierry, this time in a different aspect. PS Later, their games were often compared due to their speed, versatility and striking power.
In the recent World Cup, the French team emerged victorious in the final against Croatia, rightfully winning the coveted trophy. Notably, one of the goals against the second strongest national team on the planet was scored by none other than Kylian Mbappé, who was only 19 at the time. He was thus recognized as the best under-21 player of the tournament, earning the title of youngest footballer to score a goal in a World Cup final since Pelé, who achieved the feat at 17! Let's hope it wasn't his last goal in the competition.
Remember Mbappé's signature pose? If not, it's attached below, where he's seen with his arms crossed and slightly tucked under his armpits; he showed it off during that same World Cup final. Well, in an interview, the striker revealed that he got inspiration from his younger brother Ethan, who would strike the same pose while dominating Kylian in FIFA! It may seem somewhat unbelievable, but people who follow such stories have probably gotten used to being surprised...
And Kylian's Cameroonian father, Wilfried, works as a football coach. Do you think there was a mistake in the subtitle? Well, there isn't. As a coach, Wilfried Mbappé took guardianship of the talented 11-year-old Giresse Kembo-Ekoko, whose parents sent him to France from Zaire due to the civil war. After a while, Mbappé senior officially adopted the Congolese boy. The young boy became a professional footballer, playing over 140 matches for "Rennes" and representing the French junior team. Currently, he has moved to the Middle East to secure his future. Kylian and Giresse consider each other brothers.
Kylian’s mind is consumed by football, even when he eats and sleeps. In his free time outside of training, like many other French footballers (such as Pogba, Griezmann and Dembélé), Mbappé immerses himself for hours in Football Manager and watches the matches of different teams on television. According to those close to the player, he is able to watch 5 to 6 shows a day. In addition to watching an endless number of matches involving the best football clubs, he avidly reads books about football and athletes. One of the recent books he read was a biography of Michael Jordan.
Despite signing his first professional contract in the summer of 2016, Mbappé still resides at the club's training center. This is not due to the high cost of renting a home on the Côte d'Azur, but rather to the fact that football consumes all of the young player's free time. In fact, Kylian does not even own a personal car. The situation is such that when his mom and dad visit him, he asks them to take him to the "Monaco" training base in La Turbie.
Kylian Mbappé scored his first hat-trick in senior football on 14 December 2016, in a cup match against Rennes, just a week after turning 18. He didn't have to wait long for his first league hat-trick either, achieving the feat against 'Metz' in February of the following year. By comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, scored his first professional hat-trick at the age of 22, netting three goals against 'Newcastle'. Lionel Messi scored his first hat-trick at the age of 19 in El Clásico. Thierry Henry, often compared to Mbappé, experienced the joy of his first hat-trick eight years after his debut, in 2002, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.