Kylian Mbappe has increased speculation that he’ll move to Real Madrid from AS Monaco by doing an interview with Eurosport in which he named Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane.
Mbappe said: “The one who made me love football was Zidane. Afterwards, I developed several idols but really Zidane was my very first idol.” The forward would have been eight-years-old at the time of Zizou’s retirement.
Although it’s not unusual for a Frenchman to admit that he idolises Zidane, it seems as though it could play a part in Mbappe’s next career move, be that this summer or next. He’s the hottest property in football.
Still only 18-years-old, he has scored 24 goals and assisted a further nine in helping Monaco win Ligue 1. He caught the eye in Europe by scoring goals against heavyweights in the knockout stages.
Unfortunately for Mbappe, it wasn’t enough to get past Juventus in the semi-finals.
He also called for Gianluigi Buffon to win the Ballon d’Or in that interview.
Henry comparisons
Mbappe admitted that he was flattered to be compared to Henry but insisted such comparisons were premature: “It’s flattering to be compared to Henry, but as I said and I repeat: ‘everybody writes his story.’ Thierry has made his career and it was immense, I think it would not be fair to compare an 18-year-old who has not done anything yet.
@If I make a great career, I would not want to be compared to an 18-year-old who has not done anything yet.”