Kylian Mbappe | PSG

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

So is that Di Maria pushed back into midfield or dropped altogether?

Di Maria in his favorite role in a midfield 3 I suspect.

 

[Wal2Fra]

Why Monaco's a joke? They've made a fantastic business.

They did so well to go and win Ligue 1 last season and now they are doing a dortmund and just letting their best players go, including to the only team that was competing against them for the league. The just gave the league away and they havn't even been paid for it yet!

 

[Escobar]

He's an amazing talent, but let's see if moving to Paris was the right choice. 150m is batshit crazy though

 

[Silver]

Rooney barely played a good season before we bought him for a record transfer.

Erm, Rooney had two very good seasons at Everton before he joined us. He was also doing well on the international stage. Don't try and be revisionist to prove a point. Nothing compared to Mbappe's transition. Rooney was an established teenager in one of the best leagues not a second tier league. Mbappe might be a good player with potential but he's only had one season in the French League which doesn't justify this fee.

As for his first touch and finishing - maybe his first touch is better but you can't compare finishing when he's playing in an inferior league. You pay that much money for players who are established or won trophies not on potential alone.

 

[Oooh_aaah_cantona]

Erm, Rooney had two very good seasons at Everton before he joined us. He was also doing well on the international stage. Don't try and be revisionist to prove a point. Nothing compared to Mbappe's transition. Rooney was an established teenager in one of the best leagues not a second tier league. Mbappe might be a good player with potential but he's only had one season in the French League which doesn't justify this fee.

As for his first touch and finishing - maybe his first touch is better but you can't compare finishing when he's playing in an inferior league. You pay that much money for players who are established or won trophies not on potential alone.

Quite similar in my view. Rooney was only a first time player in his 2nd full season, much like Mbappe. Rooney had about 15 goals for Everton, roughly the same as Mbappe.

At the time we bought him too, he hadn't played champions league nor shined at the 2004 euros yet, whereas Mbappe has CL in his favor.

We can argue about the strength of the French league, but that's a different topic altogether.

 

[Hawks2008]

Messi and Dembele at Barca, Ronaldo and Asensio at Madrid, Neymar and Mbappe at PSG. Good to see both today's and tomorrows superstars all locked down at 3 clubs who aren't us...

 

[MiceOnMeth]

Messi and Dembele at Barca, Ronaldo and Asensio at Madrid, Neymar and Mbappe at PSG. Good to see both today's and tomorrows superstars all locked down at 3 clubs who aren't us...

The underating of our own players is quite funny sometimes, Asensio is good but its not like he's a level above Martial or hell even Rashford.

 

[Sarni]

They did so well to go and win Ligue 1 last season and now they are doing a dortmund and just letting their best players go, including to the only team that was competing against them for the league. The just gave the league away and they havn't even been paid for it yet!

So it would have been better for them to let him walk away for free in two years, seeing as he wanted to leave anyway and would not have signed a new deal? They are receiving £166m for this transfer, it's plenty enough to rebuild. In total they've received over £300m for outgoing players and have time now to rebuild, a club like Monaco probably did not expect that they'd have £300m to spend on top of their standard transfer budget and it means they are going to be competitive in the market for the next few years, especially for younger players. When a smaller club is presented with an opportunity to get £300m+ to spend on new players while still remaining competitive domestically, they need to take it. This sort of money is probably going to actually elevate them to a higher level.

I think Keita will be a good replacement for Mbappe. He's also very young, he got 16 goals in Serie A last season so is not a mug and has been coveted by both Milan clubs too. He'll be great for them I think.

 

[kouroux]

So it would have been better for them to let him walk away for free in two years, seeing as he wanted to leave anyway and would not have signed a new deal? They are receiving £166m for this transfer, it's plenty enough to rebuild. In total they've received over £300m for outgoing players and have time now to rebuild, a club like Monaco probably did not expect that they'd have £300m to spend on top of their standard transfer budget and it means they are going to be competitive in the market for the next few years, especially for younger players. When a smaller club is presented with an opportunity to get £300m+ to spend on new players while still remaining competitive domestically, they need to take it. This sort of money is probably going to actually elevate them to a higher level.

I think Keita will be a good replacement for Mbappe. He's also very young, he got 16 goals in Serie A last season so is not a mug and has been coveted by both Milan clubs too. He'll be great for them I think.

The problem isn't selling all those young players, it's the hypocrisy behind this deal. All summer long they've said that they were never going to reinforce a direct competitor in PSG and now they just did that. Once Real Madrid stopped showing interest, it was a 100% sure deal he was going to bought by PSG but it didn't stop Monaco from acting big.

 

[JPRouve]

The problem isn't selling all those young players, it's the hypocrisy behind this deal. All summer long they've said that they were never going to reinforce a direct competitor in PSG and now they just did that. Once Real Madrid stopped showing interest, it was a 100% sure deal he was going to bought by PSG but it didn't stop Monaco from acting big.

Hypocrisy? Monaco tried to sign him, they offered him a new contract and he rejected it, he also took a long time doing so. Monaco were in a position where they had to either take the bigger offer or gamble on a player that was likely to shaft them.

 

[kouroux]

Hypocrisy? Monaco tried to sign him, they offered him a new contract and he rejected it, he also took a long time doing so. Monaco were in a position where they had to either take the bigger offer or gamble on a player that was likely to shaft them.

Yes, hypocrisy in claiming they wouldn't reinforce PSG, only to finally do that. It's better to say "we'll do our best to keep our players" and just leave it at that.

 

[JPRouve]

Yes, hypocrisy in claiming they wouldn't reinforce PSG, only to finally do that. It's better to say "we'll do our best to keep our players" and just leave it at that.

They said it regarding Fabinho though, not Mbappé. Because they control Fabinho due to his contract and don't contol Mbappé for the same reason, iirc regarding Mbappé Monaco said that the decision was in the player's hands.

Edit: In fact, I don't think Monaco said anything at all, the press said it though.

 

[Silver]

Quite similar in my view. Rooney was only a first time player in his 2nd full season, much like Mbappe. Rooney had about 15 goals for Everton, roughly the same as Mbappe.

Wow, you're throwing out some major revisionism about Rooney's career just to legitimize this transfer. Either you have no idea or you're desperate to prove a point.

Firstly, Rooney was a first team player in both his seasons at Everton. He made over 30 appearances in each season at Everton When United bought him, he had two solid seasons behind him. And then again, you're going back to goals - Rooney was playing for a midtable team in the English Premier League. Mbappe was playing for the French Champions in a far inferior league.

At the time we bought him too, he hadn't played champions league nor shined at the 2004 euros yet, whereas Mbappe has CL in his favor.

Again with this revisionism. We bought Rooney in August 2004. AFTER the 2004 Euros where he was a standout performer. And yes he hadn't played CL but that's because he was in a team that wasn't good enough. Lest we forget his first CL game where he scored a hattrick. Mbappe has CL in his favor... so do a lot of players.

We can argue about the strength of the French league, but that's a different topic altogether.

Actually if you're comparing Mbappe to young players in other leagues then it's not a different topic. The strength of the French league is weak. Far weaker than the English league so if you can't justify the successes of a player in the two leagues on the same level.

Mbappe is a good young player but why this need to twist facts just to try and justify this ridiculous fee? The fact is that Rooney was a far more established player in a far more challenging league at the time of his big money transfer. Mbappe was not. Let's see how it plays out but frankly he can only legitimize his talent in the CL while he's playing in the French League.

 

[golden_blunder]

But, I would find it pretty funny if they end up like Blackburn after Jack Walker left.

JW didn't leave, he died from cancer. The club, like his other business assets were left in the hands of family members. His daughter got the club, and she made a mess of it, culminating in the sale of it to the venky boys

 

[Silver]

Messi and Dembele at Barca, Ronaldo and Asensio at Madrid, Neymar and Mbappe at PSG. Good to see both today's and tomorrows superstars all locked down at 3 clubs who aren't us...

Pogba, De Gea, Bailly, Rashford, Martial? Woe is us!

 

[RexHamilton]

Pogba, De Gea, Bailly, Rashford, Martial? Woe is us!

No, there are only 3 great players and 3 up and coming superstars in the world.

 

[Silver]

No, there are only 3 great players and 3 up and coming superstars in the world.

Aw shucks.

Let's not forget that nowadays superstars can only be bought, not developed. How did we ever manage to wrack up those 20 titles.

 

[Kostur]

They did so well to go and win Ligue 1 last season and now they are doing a dortmund and just letting their best players go, including to the only team that was competing against them for the league. The just gave the league away and they havn't even been paid for it yet!

They haven't given the league away, the league was given away to PSG the moment Neymar joined them. Barring some absolute disaster they would've won it Mbappe-on-board or not. At the same time they're getting shitloads of money (and don't forget that it's pretty much their system at the moment, they operate like this, they cannot just throw 222 mil on a player and then about 160+ on another one in one window) instead of getting far less or letting the player walk. They've reinforced their squad with all the departures, still kept Fabinho and Lemar, with Suba, Glik, Sidibe, Jemerson and Falcao the spine is still pretty much in place. I'm pretty sure that their additions will fit in pretty well too, especially Tielemans who'll probably go for some obscene amount of money in a year or two.

Monaco and PSG simply have to be looked at from different perspectives, to compare it a bit with Bundesliga, one is Bayern on roids, one is BVB. It's nice when the latter win the league and all, but for some time it's been an exception to the rule, not the other way around. Watch PSG get Sanchez in a year, there's nothing Monaco could possibly do to compete with them, it would have to be PSG to have a total meltdown.

 

[rotherham_red]

Quite similar in my view. Rooney was only a first time player in his 2nd full season, much like Mbappe. Rooney had about 15 goals for Everton, roughly the same as Mbappe.

At the time we bought him too, he hadn't played champions league nor shined at the 2004 euros yet, whereas Mbappe has CL in his favor.

We can argue about the strength of the French league, but that's a different topic altogether.

We bought him straight after he lit the Euros up in 2004.

 

[Wal2Fra]

So it would have been better for them to let him walk away for free in two years, seeing as he wanted to leave anyway and would not have signed a new deal? They are receiving £166m for this transfer, it's plenty enough to rebuild. In total they've received over £300m for outgoing players and have time now to rebuild, a club like Monaco probably did not expect that they'd have £300m to spend on top of their standard transfer budget and it means they are going to be competitive in the market for the next few years, especially for younger players. When a smaller club is presented with an opportunity to get £300m+ to spend on new players while still remaining competitive domestically, they need to take it. This sort of money is probably going to actually elevate them to a higher level.

I think Keita will be a good replacement for Mbappe. He's also very young, he got 16 goals in Serie A last season so is not a mug and has been coveted by both Milan clubs too. He'll be great for them I think.

Monaco are by no means a small club (in French terms anyway) and definetly not short of cash.

1 more season out of him would have benefited Monaco and they probably could have gained more than the 166m next season with Madrid or even an English team coming in next year along with competition from PSG for his signature.

As for remaining competitive, they will simply be fighting for second along with any team that steps up. PSG with the signings of Mbappe & Neymar will just outscore anybody they face.

 

[JPRouve]

Monaco are by no means a small club (in French terms anyway) and definetly not short of cash.

1 more season out of him would have benefited Monaco and they probably could have gained more than the 166m next season with Madrid or even an English team coming in next year along with competition from PSG for his signature.

As for remaining competitive, they will simply be fighting for second along with any team that steps up. PSG with the signings of Mbappe & Neymar will just outscore anybody they face.

Not with one year on his contract and six months away from being free to negotiate with all clubs.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Rooney barely played a good season before we bought him for a record transfer.

Mbappe has much better touch and finishing than Rashford

My point is that he is going to be bought for £165 million and he is no where near worth that from half a decent season. And my point about Rashford, the half a season he played in his first season was brilliant. Then he had a little bit of a loss in performance. Mbappe has had a good first season but it was also in the French league and he wouldn't have done that good in the PL which is a lot tougher. He may suffer from second season syndrome and also a loss in performance.

 

[JPRouve]

My point is that he is going to be bought for £165 million and he is no where near worth that from half a decent season. And my point about Rashford, the half a season he played in his first season was brilliant. Then he had a little bit of a loss in performance. Mbappe has had a good first season but it was also in the French league and he wouldn't have done that good in the PL which is a lot tougher. He may suffer from second season syndrome and also a loss in performance.

It's not really important but you have no idea about that.

 

[Pat_Mustard]

Exciting cameo last night vs the Netherlands. @kouroux @JPRouve @Ecstatic I understand that Giroud has been excellent for France lately, but do you see Mbappe taking his place in the starting XI by the time the World Cup begins? An Mbappe/Griezmann partnership seems ridiculously menacing to me.

 

[JPRouve]

Exciting cameo last night vs the Netherlands. @kouroux @JPRouve @Ecstatic I understand that Giroud has been excellent for France lately, but do you see Mbappe taking his place in the starting XI by the time the World Cup begins? An Mbappe/Griezmann partnership seems ridiculously menacing to me.

The problem is that France are terrible at defending set pieces. So on top of being good attacking wise Giroud is also valuable defensively which makes me think that he will be the starter as long as he performs well, unless Deschamps throws caution to the window and goes down the Total Football road which is a very dangerous road.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

It's not really important but you have no idea about that.

If I have no idea then please do tell me how the PL is not tougher than Ligue 1?

The top 6 is stronger than the top 6 in France. The likes of Everton and Southampton would probably put up a decent fight to finish top 4 in France. The bottom half is also tougher.

 

[JPRouve]

If I have no idea then please do tell me how the PL is not tougher than Ligue 1?

The top 6 is stronger than the top 6 in France. The likes of Everton and Southampton would probably put up a decent fight to finish top 4 in France. The bottom half is also tougher.

You have no idea about how a player will do in a different league, you can't just claim that he will do better or worse.

 

[Brwned]

Again with this revisionism. We bought Rooney in August 2004. AFTER the 2004 Euros where he was a standout performer. And yes he hadn't played CL but that's because he was in a team that wasn't good enough. Lest we forget his first CL game where he scored a hattrick. Mbappe has CL in his favor... so do a lot of players.

It's also worth pointing out that Rooney scored just 1 goal in his next 10 Champions League starts...encompassing two full seasons. That profligacy in front of goal was a part of the reason why we had our worst CL in more than a decade at that point. Just 1 goal in the final group game against Benfica would've put us through.

Of course, you can't rely solely on a 18/19 year old to propel you forward in the CL...but then that's why casually dismissing Mbappe's record is a bit silly. He's the only player in the Monaco team to score against City, Dortmund and Juve, and all of his goals against City and Dortmund were essential to the team's progression. That is not something that a lot of players have done. Not in recent years and not even in the entire history of the competition.

 

[Sarni]

Monaco are by no means a small club (in French terms anyway) and definetly not short of cash.

1 more season out of him would have benefited Monaco and they probably could have gained more than the 166m next season with Madrid or even an English team coming in next year along with competition from PSG for his signature.

As for remaining competitive, they will simply be fighting for second along with any team that steps up. PSG with the signings of Mbappe & Neymar will just outscore anybody they face.

They wouldn't have been able to get anywhere close to £166m with one year left on his deal, besides we have no idea how he is going to do next season. Neither Real Madrid nor any of the English clubs were going to pay £150m+ next year for sure for a player with a year left and maybe not even half of it if he had an average season.

 

[Sarni]

You have no idea about how a player will do in a different league, you can't just claim that he will do better or worse.

Yeah. La Liga is a lot stronger than Premier League and N'Zonzi who was a solid player at Stoke has become a great player at Sevilla.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

You have no idea about how a player will do in a different league, you can't just claim that he will do better or worse.

That is fair enough. However he scored 16 league goals and the only players to score 16 or more in the PL were the best attackers, excluding Josh King. These were; Kane, Lukaku, Sanchez, Aguero, Costa, Alli, Zlatan and Hazard.

It would be a safe bet to say he wouldn't be in that scoring bracket last season in the PL. Considering his first Ligue 1 goal last season was on the 3rd December. From December to May would have been even harder to get into the aforementioned scoring bracket.

I know I can't just claim he will do good or bad in the PL, but how many 18 year olds have scored that many in the PL. For example, Rooney didn't score 16 PL goals until he was 20/21.

 

[FromTheBench]

Closest thing yo the Fat Ronaldo i have seen in a while.

 

[Sarni]

That is fair enough. However he scored 16 league goals and the only players to score 16 or more in the PL were the best attackers, excluding Josh King. These were; Kane, Lukaku, Sanchez, Aguero, Costa, Alli, Zlatan and Hazard.

It would be a safe bet to say he wouldn't be in that scoring bracket last season in the PL. Considering his first Ligue 1 goal last season was on the 3rd December. From December to May would have been even harder to get into the aforementioned scoring bracket.

I know I can't just claim he will do good or bad in the PL, but how many 18 year olds have scored that many in the PL. For example, Rooney didn't score 16 PL goals until he was 20/21.

Why would you exclude Josh King? He also scored 16 goals.

 

[KM]

It's also worth pointing out that Rooney scored just 1 goal in his next 10 Champions League starts...encompassing two full seasons. That profligacy in front of goal was a part of the reason why we had our worst CL in more than a decade at that point. Just 1 goal in the final group game against Benfica would've put us through.

Of course, you can't rely solely on a 18/19 year old to propel you forward in the CL...but then that's why casually dismissing Mbappe's record is a bit silly. He's the only player in the Monaco team to score against City, Dortmund and Juve, and all of his goals against City and Dortmund were essential to the team's progression. That is not something that a lot of players have done. Not in recent years and not even in the entire history of the competition.

This.

Also can we please dismiss the idea that clubs are stupid for spending huge amount of money on the basis of half season form. He was extremely highly rated and I believe City had a large 30-40m rejected of him last summer when he hasn't even debuted yet.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Yeah. La Liga is a lot stronger than Premier League and N'Zonzi who was a solid player at Stoke has become a great player at Sevilla.

Not wanting to get off topic and into a massive debate over which league is the best but come on. Apart from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletico. Is the league really better than the PL. The bottom half of La Liga is worse than the bottom half of the PL. The defences are awful.

Do you really think Messi and Ronaldo would have scored 40+ goals nearly every season in the PL? Not a chance. Ronaldo in his Ballon D'or season in the PL he only got 31 league goals and the season after he got 18 league goals.

If I have a debate I only use facts or statistics to back it up. I know facts and stats don't paint the full picture, but they give you an idea.

Why would you exclude Josh King? He also scored 16 goals.

The point was that apart from him the only players to score 16 or more were the best attackers in the league. Mbappe also only scored his first league goal last season in December. There is a very slim chance he would have gotten in the bracket mentioned above by scoring his first goal in December in the PL.

 

[Damien]

Mbappe is seriously overrated. He has half a good season in the French league. £165 million for potential is crazy. He has barely done any better than Rashford at the start of his career with the United senior team. He scored two on his debut. Two against Arsenal, two against City. Scored on his England debut. So he proved himself against good teams. Mbappe wouldn't have been so hyped if he was in the Premier League. He wouldn't have looked as good as he has in France.

So you're completely ignoring Mbappe in the Champions League then? He's scored 6 goals in the Champions League at just 18. Only one other player has done that. He also broke Juventus' run of 690 minutes without conceding.

 

[Frasbul]

Messi and Dembele at Barca, Ronaldo and Asensio at Madrid, Neymar and Mbappe at PSG. Good to see both today's and tomorrows superstars all locked down at 3 clubs who aren't us...

How often do you post this? I am 100% sure I've read this before.

 

[JPRouve]

This.

Also can we please dismiss the idea that clubs are stupid for spending huge amount of money on the basis of half season form. He was extremely highly rated and I believe City had a large 30-40m rejected of him last summer when he hasn't even debuted yet.

Mbappé debuted the previous season.

 

[DOTA]

How often do you post this? I am 100% sure I've read this before.

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/ous...-from-msn-to-lsd.428251/page-60#post-21396294

 

[Sarni]

Not wanting to get off topic and into a massive debate over which league is the best but come on. Apart from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletico. Is the league really better than the PL. The bottom half of La Liga is worse than the bottom half of the PL. The defences are awful.

Do you really think Messi and Ronaldo would have scored 40+ goals nearly every season in the PL? Not a chance. Ronaldo in his Ballon D'or season in the PL he only got 31 league goals and the season after he got 18 league goals.

If I have a debate I only use facts or statistics to back it up. I know facts and stats don't paint the full picture, but they give you an idea.

Ronaldo was 24 and not yet in his prime when he left United and he still scored 31 in a Premier League that dominated Europe at the time at 23. Premier League got weaker at he top since then. Yeah I think La Liga is significantly stronger but this is debate for another thread and BTW if you want to use stats, the best are European performances.