True, my bad my memory betrayed me.
Wow, you're really bringing the big guns here "Nanana farmer's league, nanan PSG fan, nanana ballon d'or rankings". Are you secretly playing a bingo of terrible opinion? If so, let me tell you you're winning.
Is Mbappe the best french player ever?
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True. Wasn't a clear standout at club level though until about 23 I think? Can't remember when he went to Arsenal exactly but he flopped at Juventus and took a little while to get going at Arsenal.
Thuram was an incredible defender but to put him ahead of Zidane is just
It’s just telling that the main posters taking offense to the blatantly obvious issue of poor competition for PSG and Mbappe in Ligue 1 are PSG fans.
I would put zidane ahead of him as France best ever player but I was just comparing mbappe to thuramThuram was an incredible defender but to put him ahead of Zidane is just
All of Uruguay, Belgium and Croatia were great teams.
Uruguay had a wonderful defensive unit lead by Godin (top-3 CB of his generation) and a strike force of Suárez & Cavani; they also deservedly beat reigning European champions in the previous round.
Belgium has been one of the best teams of the past decade with a ridiculously stacked squad (Hazard, De Bruyne, Courtois, Kompany, still fit Lukaku…). And they were a stronger team than Argentina at the time.
Croatia was perhaps a slightly underwhelming finalist but even so they’ve had Modrić, Rakitić, Mandžukić, Perišić who had played key roles in CL winners/regular contenders… with Modrić being an unquestionably all-time great midfielder.
So yeah, it’s a weird claim. If you want to have an easy route to victory, look at 2002 Brazil — underwhelming Belgium, great England, purple-patched Turkey and an extremely underwhelming German side in the final that only get there thanks to the heroics of Kahn & Ballack.
For France, he is very close if not there already. It feels inevitable anyway, since he will have at least two more major tournaments with an incredible team around him. Better to let him prove it beyond any doubt though, so I'll say no for now. If he is integral to France winning one more WC or Euro it will be settled, imo.
In general, no way. Needs to leave France and prove it consistently at a higher level. He's not even close to Benzema or Giroud in that respect.
In general, no way. Needs to leave France and prove it consistently at a higher level. He's not even close to Benzema or Giroud in that respect.
Was Thuram even better player than Desailly or Blanc (in his peak) ?Thuram was an incredible defender but to put him ahead of Zidane is just
So he hasn't won the WC then, despite his 6 games contribution and 3 goals in 1998 WC?
Ok then.
Comparing a forward to midfielders like Platini and Zidane is a bit difficult. However Mpabbe has scored around 250 goals already and is 23. He's performed both in the WC and the CL. However I think until he's around 30 it might be premature to call him the best French player ever. Atm though he's definitely on course to become perhaps the best French match winner. He's too fast for defenders to handle and pretty clinical
He still have a WC under his belt when he was at similar age. That's all I am arguing there, as addressed to the following claim:
No
Giroud better than Mbappe? Hmm ok
But had nowhere near the effect that Mbappe had in 2018, especially in the final.
Henry was an unused sub in the final iirc and didn't play the semi final either.
Classic redcaf, no player can be decent if he didn't "prove it in the premier league" (and for some poster, spain in 2008 to 2018). CL final and semi finals back to back with amazing performances against Barcelona, Bayern etc.? Nobody cares cause he didn't prove it in the PL (unlike Giroud, the PL goat).
Well you may say so. Henry won his first French player of the year award at age 23. While Mbappe won his first at age 20. So Mbappe was a couple of years ahead.
Is Newmar the best ever Brazil male player?
He did come on from bench at 31 mins in the semi final though.
Giroud better than Mbappé, dearie me.
‘Needs to prove it at a higher level’ - like MOTM against Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich in CLs, Argentina, Denmark in WCs.
Bravo.
It's not just about numbers. However, I do agree that it's very close between Henry and Mbappe, I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that Henry was way better. Maybe because he played in England
For his age, yes. If we compare his career thus far to the entire careers of the other candidates, no. If his entire career plays out along the same trajectory as it has thus far, I think he will be.
This thread would’ve been so different had it been made during EURO 2020.
Let’s revisit this in 10 years.
At the moment he is miles behind Zidane for me.
At the moment he is miles behind Zidane for me.
This thread would be so different had it been made before Mbappé was born.
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Compare Brasil squad of '02 to French squad of '18. That's like comparing mercedes to lada, haha
Again with the Ballon d'Or, it's an award by journalists that's swayed by public opinion. Figo won it over Zidane in 2000 because of a headbutt Zizou did in Serie A, but Figo wasn't a better player than Zidane that season but yet he won it, so he's the best player in the world? Give me a break.
For what it's worth, he's the only active player that's finished in the top 10 for the past 5 years, and he has been in the top 5 (4th place) in 2018 because, guess what? France won the world cup and he was a big part of it, even though this was probably his weakest season at PSG being his first. He should have been lower IMO that year and higher in others, but it has very little to do with individual performances, it has to do with the team performances and that individual within it.
Let's be very clear, there's no one who has produced more goal contributions as an individual than Mbappe since 2021, and Mbappe's a victim of falling to Real Madrid despite being the player that was tormenting them, but he's not the one letting Benzema steal the ball from him, he's not in the defense collapsing. But either way, I feel anything I say will go over your head anyways because you are deluded into thinking whoever wins the Ballon d'Or is automatically the best player in the world. You think Modric was the best player in the world when he won it which is, again, a laughable take, just completely ridiculous and shows you don't really know what you're talking about here. The worst thing is I don't believe you actually believe that, you just seem to have a trouble admitting you're wrong and, as Oly said, are willing to die on this silly hill. Go for it, I guess but it's not really interesting to have a back and forth with someone that acts like that.
Not yet, but he's close and getting closer. Honestly he might be better than Zidane already. Whether he can reach and surpass Le Roy...i'd say there's a very big chance
Nah. Only if you judge players off numbers and stats.
Why is it relevant? You were talking about easy routes to the final.
I’d put Cantona, Henry and Zidane ahead of him at present but he has plenty of time to surpass all three.
So he's overtaken Henry just like that?
Can't even be above Sylveste
And yet Mbappe is not getting serious Ballon d’Or consideration despite the ridiculous numbers he’s been putting up. This is obviously due to playing in a super team in a second rate league. No one takes his accomplishments seriously unless he wins the CL or the WC. It’s not hard to understand. The Ballon d’Or just illustrates what nearly everyone outside PSG fans think.
And whether or not Modric was the best player that year is debatable at worst. To call it a laughable opinion is what’s ridiculous. I think midfielders and even defenders should be given much more consideration for the award and it was refreshing to see him win it.
It has nothing to do with the league quality. There hasn’t been a winner who didn’t go far or won the CL or an international tournament. Mbappé has not won the CL and the year he did go to the final, he was injured for most of it and was subpar for most of the second half of that Covid season. If it would have been awarded that year, it would have gone to Lewandowski who’s playing in the Bundesliga, not the mighty PL or La Liga and an even more unbalanced league than Ligue 1. Again, Mbappé finished 4th at 19 years old and despite putting up relatively poor numbers in Ligue 1 compared to his ridiculous standards, but he won the World Cup that year. His league didn’t get in the way then and he was ranked a bit too high because of the tournament.
It’s not rocket science, and you can reflect it based on every winner’s season. They either won the CL, were immensely head and shoulder over the rest (CR7/Messi), or won an international tournament despite not being the best player in the world. Cannavaro, Modric, even Zidane in 98, none of those guys were the best players in the world their year but ended up winning the ballon d’or.
Zidane, Platini, Cantona are ahead of him but he is not far behind. I don't think you can compare these players, they all had fantastic carriers and their own style of playing and dominating football.
Zidane too apparently
Zidane is the overrated player in this thread honestly.
Of course it's all subjective but for me Zidane is in my top 10 of GOAT status. I can't agree that as a player he comes into the bracket of overrated.