Kylian Mbappe: How France striker became his country’s record scorer
Mbappe and, more importantly, his entire family always kept in mind the striker’s ability to reach the top of global football. And thus ‘Project Mbappe’ was born.
“Kylian was just school and football,” his childhood friend Rayan Viyanga says in the BBC Sport documentary on Mbappe. “School, football, home.”
He was born in the Paris suburb of Bondy in 1998, just five months after France won the World Cup for the first time.
The family flat overlooked the football fields of AS Bondy, where his father Wilfried coached as a player.
“Kylian was already one step ahead of many other players at AS Bondy,” Viyanga said. “He was advanced for his age group and wanted to play with the best. Playing with the best was his strict rule.”
Laurens added: “As a child, he learned La Marseillaise at the age of three to be ready to sing it when the first hat came.”
Mbappe, whose mother Fayza Lamari is a former professional handball player, hung photos of his idol Cristiano Ronaldo and watched old footage of another Real Madrid superstar, Zidane.
But his adopted brother, Jires Kembo Ekoko, who was selected for the French Federation’s national academy in Clairefontaine years before Mbappe went there, had an influence closer to home. Ekoko continued to play for Rennes in Ligue 1.
Author and French football expert Matt Spiro told BBC Sport: “Kylian found things a bit difficult at Clairefontaine initially. “He was there for two years and the first year was definitely not the best of his group.
“Mbappe played on the wing and was sullen most of the time.
“I think he had a growth spurt towards the end of his first year at Clairefontaine and really started to hit the ground running in the second year.”
But his rapid rise was no surprise, as even Nike came with free cleats when he was just 10 years old.
The striker, who was followed by Europe’s biggest clubs from a young age, set off from his hometown Paris to the glory of Monaco when he was 14 years old.
He spent time at Chelsea and Real Madrid, but the Mbappe family was determined for their son to stay in France during his teenage years.
Aged 16 years and 347 days old, he became the youngest player in Monaco history when he came on as an 88th-minute substitute against Caen, breaking the record set by Henry in 1994.
Three months later, he became the club’s youngest goalscorer with his first senior goal against Troyes, breaking another record previously set by Henry.
“When he debuted in Monaco you could see how unique his talent was,” Laurens said. “We had great young people and talent, but there is something a little different about it.”
