Age 25 is the age when most people will reach career maturity. The same goes for football players. And with Kylian Mbappe, he is aiming for the highest individual title of his career: the Golden Ball.
A mature Mbappe
Mbappe is a prodigy who has been known since he was very young. He also soon had a huge collection of titles from individual to collective such as Ligue 1 champion, French National Cup, World Cup champion, Golden Boy, World Cup top scorer…
Many people soon assumed that Mbappe would be the owner of the noble Golden Ball title. However, until now, this award is still eluding the French star.
Many people still believe that if France wins against Argentina in the penalty shootout in the 2022 World Cup final, it is likely that Mbappe will win the 2023 Golden Ball.
However, the excellence of goalkeeper Emi Martinez on the Argentina side and the “God of Luck” turning away caused Mbappe to miss the opportunity to win his second consecutive World Cup title and at the same time not be able to get his hands on the Golden Ball.
Entering 2023, Mbappe overcame the painful defeat in the World Cup final to continue conquering impressive milestones: becoming the highest scorer in PSG history at the age of 24, becoming captain of the French national team. , Top 3 Golden Ball, the only player to be voted the Best Player of the Ligue 1 season 4 times, entered the Time 100 (Top 100 most influential people in the world)…
The French striker is still the driving force helping PSG dominate Ligue 1 and win tickets to the 1/8 round of the Champions League. Mbappe himself maintains stable performance with 19 goals and 2 assists after 21 appearances in all competitions for the Paris team.
Not only that, Mbappe also showed remarkable maturity in character. No more noise off the field, he now only focuses on his expertise and efforts to improve his own achievements as well as that of the team.
Desire for the Golden Ball
The Golden Ball is a noble individual award that every player dreams of receiving once. With superstars who have quickly established their names like Mbappe, that is even more what he longs for.
In fact, many people had hoped he would receive this award for a long time. Because the French striker became famous too early and had all the elements to win the award.