The Frenchman may be the best player in the world, but he’s only got once more shot at firing his hometown club to European glory
Funnily enough for such a ridiculously well-paid player, Kylian Mbappe has long felt undervalued, particularly in his native France, yet he’s always insisted that he never had an issue with compatriots taking his consistently world-class performances for granted.
“I don’t blame them,” he told France Football in July of last year. “They saw me grow up, they see me all the time, at Paris Saint-Germain every weekend or in the national team. And I’ve been scoring a lot for years. So, for people, it becomes normal.
“But I never complained that my performances were trivialised. I myself trivialised what [Lionel] Messi was doing, what Cristiano Ronaldo was doing, what the great players were doing. We are in a consumer society, where ‘It’s good, but do it again.’
“And the fact that I’m right next door, in Paris… I think playing at PSG doesn’t help much because it’s a divisive team, a divisive club. So, of course it attracts gossip, but it doesn’t bother me because I know what I’m doing and how I do it.”
The irony, of course, is that Mbappe has come to personify PSG’s divisiveness, a product of the culture of entitlement that pervades Parc des Princes, an increasingly polarising player that many feel creates as many problems as he solves.
Indeed, as Mbappe closes in on a long-mooted move to Real Madrid after what looks like being yet another disappointing Champions League exit, it feels fair to ask whether he proved more trouble than he was worth during his seven years at the Parc des Princes?
All-time leading goalscorer
When Mbappe joined PSG from Monaco for €180 million (£150m/$190m), he said that his objective was to “write history in France, in the capital, in my country, in my city.” He’s unquestionably realised that aim.
PSG are presently poised to wrap up a fifth Ligue 1 title since Mbappe’s arrival, with the France forward also set to finish top of the scorers’ chart for the sixth time in seven seasons. In total, he has 251 goals in 301 games, making him the most prolific player in PSG’s history. His place in the record books is secure.
And yet Mbappe, just like Neymar and Messi before him, hasn’t achieved what he was acquired to do: lead PSG to a first Champions League title.
Mbappe’s mission
Mbappe once quipped that if his future at a club renowned for embarrassing European eliminations was really linked to Champions League success, he’d have left years ago. However, there is no getting away from the fact that PSG paid more than €400m (£340m/$425m) to sign both Mbappe and Neymar in the summer of 2017 to win them the Champions League.
It wasn’t an objective but an obligation, and Mbappe was just as driven to succeed as the club’s Qatari owners. Indeed, in the run-up to the 2020 final against Bayern Munich, Mbappe admitted “It would be a real reward if we could win the competition with a French side. That was my mission when I joined.”
Unfortunately for Mbappe, it has not been accomplished. And time is running out.
More misery?
Mbappe still has one more crack at the Champions League with PSG, but the odds are against them after last week’s 3-2 first-leg loss to Barcelona in their own backyard. The Blaugrana are far from unbeatable, but are playing with far greater freedom since Xavi announced his decision to step down as coach at the end of the season.
For this Barca, being in the quarter-finals is a bonus, an achievement nobody was expecting during a difficult first half of the season. PSG, by complete contrast, could not be under more pressure going into the second leg in Catalunya.
Another domestic title may already be wrapped up, but their seasons are defined by how they fare in Europe, and a quarter-final exit would be considered failure for a club that significantly strengthened its squad last summer with several signings that many believe were made with Mbappe’s blessing, including those of France team-mates Ousmane Dembele and Randal Kolo Muani.
Betrayed
PSG have, of course, always denied that they effectively made Mbappe their de-facto sporting director when they went out of their way to convince him to stay at Parc des Princes in the summer of 2022, but president Nasser Al-Khelaifi did publicly pronounce him “the cornerstone of the club’s project”.
It was an understandable move. Any club would love the opportunity to construct a team around the best player in the world. But making such a significant investment in one man has hardly paid off.
On the contrary, PSG are entitled to feel betrayed by Mbappe, who is on the verge of leaving on a free transfer after continuing to publicly flirt with Madrid for the past two years.
‘A bit lost’
Of course, PSG’s problems are hardly all of Mbappe’s making. They made several expensive mistakes in the transfer market before he was given a more prominent position at Parc des Princes.
One also has to acknowledge that the goals have never stopped flowing – but the drama has been never-ending too. He has repeatedly come across as a spoiled child, on and off the field, arguing with some team-mates, giving up on others and causing no end of controversy with his clumsy criticism of his coach’s tactics.
Mbappe has always been integral the PSG brand, and his exit will hit them hard from a commercial perspective. But PSG’s star attraction has also long since become an unwelcome distraction.
The situation has got so bad, and so unhealthy for both parties, that Christophe Dugarry admitted to RMC Sport that he hopes “Mbappe leaves, from the bottom of my heart” because he feels that he’s regressed as a player and a person.
“I think he’s becoming more and more predictable, he lacks strength and character, he disappears from games too often,” the former France international said. “He wanted all the power, but you get the feeling he’s like a little boy, you get the impression the suit’s too big. I feel he’s a bit lost, there’s no sense of symbiosis.”
‘Possible to win without Mbappe’
PSG have only themselves to blame, of course. They created this monster. Mbappe is the inevitable result of PSG’s obsession with superstars – and their pathetic willingness to cater to their every whim. It’s no real wonder that he acts like he’s bigger than the club, given that’s exactly how his employers have treated him over the past few years. And where has it got them?
PSG have spent a fortune holding onto Mbappe, but now he’s set to leave for nothing – and they don’t even have a Champions League to show for it.
As former sporting director Leonardo pointed out last year, five different clubs have managed to win the European Cup since 2017, and PSG aren’t one of them. “That means it’s entirely possible to win this competition without him,” the Brazilian reasoned in an interview with L’Equipe.
Mbappe will likely go on to win the Champions League at Madrid, of course. They are a match made in football heaven, his arrival at Santiago Bernabeu will be like the second coming of Cristiano Ronaldo. But when it comes to assessing his PSG legacy, for all his remarkable records, there’s no glossing over the glaring lack of European success.
Mbappe had a mission when he arrived in Paris seven years ago, and if PSG don’t win in Barcelona on Tuesday night, it cannot be portrayed as anything other than a failure.