Kylian Mbappe | PSG

Acheron

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There is a common sentiment expressed in the last pages of the thread, that Real Madrid isn't very competitive anymore, is behind the big teams, and needs a full rebuild within the next few years, so Mbappe maybe shouldn't join them.

But the way the season has played out shows this isn't really true. A league + CL double was won, with important contributions from the younger players like Vini, Valverde, Militao, Rodrygo, and Camavinga. No full rebuild is needed.
What's more is that by staying they will still have the problem of featuring all three of him, Messi and Neymar. They have a good team but it would be very hard for any manager to make that work on the UCL if they're imposing him to play all three of them, something needs to change there.

We do need to reinforce the team and seek replacements for some of our most veteran players but things aren't as bad as people make out to be and I wouldn't be surprised if we keep knocking out PSG in further editions of UCL.
 

Pretzels81

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Obviously Ney and Messi, two ex-Barca legends, talked him out of signing for Real.
 

tomaldinho1

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Hard to know how much this is reflective of where/when their teams get knocked out. For example, I assume Messi in the Barca later years (think they only got past QF in 1 of 6 years) would have less minutes versus generally weaker opponents, whereas someone like Lewa in that same period would have been in multiple semis and a final. Ruud's record is astonishing.

I know if you look at CL knock out goals only Ronaldo is probably far ahead but would be interesting to see that.
 

Sayros

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Hard to know how much this is reflective of where/when their teams get knocked out. For example, I assume Messi in the Barca later years (think they only got past QF in 1 of 6 years) would have less minutes versus generally weaker opponents, whereas someone like Lewa in that same period would have been in multiple semis and a final. Ruud's record is astonishing.

I know if you look at CL knock out goals only Ronaldo is probably far ahead but would be interesting to see that.
It's not reflective of that at all, just the g/a ratio for any players with over 50 games, it doesn't take into account knock-out rounds, etc. If you only isolated knock-out rounds, I'd imagine CR7 jumps higher up that list, though I'm not certain he tops it, would be interested to find out as well.
 

Red the Bear

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Ronaldo got much better stat wise later on in his career so his numbers are deflated in that regard.

Great numbers by Mbappe, let's see how he does this year, he might end up winning it outright.
 

Ladron de redcafe

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Mbappé' has the highest goal production ratio in the competition already, and he's only getting better.

Incidentally, he alread haas 4 domestic top scorer awards at 22 as well, which is mind-boggling. And I wonder where he'll end up on the all time list.



It this rate, I wonder what his total goal production will be when he retires.
 

mitchmouse

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When I see things like this it puts into perspective how supernatural Ruud was for me. He’d get stupendous numbers in todays game with his level of finishing.
Someone on the caf tried to school me recently: claimed Ruud was an awful buy because we didn't win many titles with him! I kid you not...
 

Acrobat7

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Someone on the caf tried to school me recently: claimed Ruud was an awful buy because we didn't win many titles with him! I kid you not...
I can only speak as a Bayern supporter, but whenever Bayern played United I was scared of Ruud. And I am talking Inzaghi-level scared.
 

Welsh Wonder

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Someone on the caf tried to school me recently: claimed Ruud was an awful buy because we didn't win many titles with him! I kid you not...
We were incredibly lucky to have him through that period while at the same time he was incredibly unlucky not to be a part of what came before and after him. I think you could reasonably argue for him being one of our most important transfers during the PL era given how competitive and relatively successful we remained in that period of transition between great teams. Provided some all time memorable moments too - the Fulham goal, the chest + volley against Charlton and the pen against the invincibles among others.
 

ilrm

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I'm honestly not sold on either Mbappe or Haaland as ST. I think they are one unfortunate injury away from losing it all like Fernando Torres. Now anyone can get a career ending injury but I just feel that their style of play (the way they run, body weight) makes them more prone to getting that kind of injury.
 

TheNewEra

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Will enter the great players debate if he can continue another decade, already ahead of Messi & Ronaldo at his age.

Goals + Assists + a WC already.

He will get maybe another WC, a few CLs and a few Ballon d'Ors if he keeps outputting at this level.

Also I'd be very surprised if he doesn't go to Real Madrid, unless he gets absurd oil money for the rest of his career to make PSG into a powerhouse.

Kind of wonder what he'll be like with a bit less pace though as he gets older, but his finishing is as good as any.
 

sglowrider

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Also I'd be very surprised if he doesn't go to Real Madrid, unless he gets absurd oil money for the rest of his career to make PSG into a powerhouse.

Kind of wonder what he'll be like with a bit less pace though as he gets older, but his finishing is as good as any.
He's already on £800k a week. How much can RM afford? The transfer fees and then his salary? Only way he moves is he suddenly decides that money is not that important and takes a pay cut to a pauperish £500k a week. And can even RM afford that?
Or he moves to another oil club -- which is unlikely unless he's 30y.o or something.
 

harms

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Will enter the great players debate if he can continue another decade, already ahead of Messi & Ronaldo at his age.
At his age Messi had already won 3 CLs, starring in 08/09 & 10/11 finals, and was on his way to receive his 3rd Ballon d'Or, putting him up in contention for the GOAT status.
 

Pintu

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Either Ruud didn't get near enough respect for how good he was, or number of goals scored is revered too highly nowadays.
Not many memorable CL goals (very few KO goals). He played for us in his best years, in seasons we weren't very competitive in the CL. And the same for Madrid. Only one 1/4 final appearance (he scored in that one but we lost to Madrid... Italian final in OT that season)... Other than that I think his only KO stages were the losses to Milan (2-0 on aggregate) in the RO 16 and the same stage a year earlier with the defeat to Porto.
 

Zehner

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At his age Messi had already won 3 CLs, starring in 08/09 & 10/11 finals, and was on his way to receive his 3rd Ballon d'Or, putting him up in contention for the GOAT status.
Not only that. Assuming that the next Ballon d'Or is Messi's now, Mbappe can win his first with 25. Since Messi will have 8 then, Mbappe would need to win 8 out of the next 10 to match him at 35. He has more or less already lost on this front.

Besides, Mbappe is turning 24 in two days. The season Messi turned 24, he scored 73 goals. Mbappe is on course for 45 or so currently.
 

FriedClams

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I would love to see he and Messi carry on their form from the World Cup to PSG. If they can, then gonna be a lot of fun to watch in the CL.
 

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I would love to see he and Messi carry on their form from the World Cup to PSG. If they can, then gonna be a lot of fun to watch in the CL.
They mostly won't.

CL is a different monster, and Messi has been kinda mediocre against very good sides in the UCL for 3 season in a row now...not like he has to prove anything, but his advanced age has been more exposed at the UCL due to better opposition than what you find at international level.

I don't see PSG winning the UCL this season, and i think this is Messi last season at PSG.
 

Yuri37

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I would love to see he and Messi carry on their form from the World Cup to PSG. If they can, then gonna be a lot of fun to watch in the CL.
it's actually entirely possible especially knowing they'll have Bayern to play soon so no wonder they'll have something to fire up them immediately after this WC.
Also contrary to Neymar for example, messi with his humility has showed since he is at PSG that he has no problem giving goals to Mbappe and being his Robin
 

Yuri37

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They mostly won't.

CL is a different monster, and Messi has been kinda mediocre against very good sides in the UCL for 3 season in a row now...not like he has to prove anything, but his advanced age has been more exposed at the UCL due to better opposition than what you find at international level.

I don't see PSG winning the UCL this season, and i think this is Messi last season at PSG.
You'd be absolutely foolish to bet against a team with mbappe, Messi, Neymar, Verratti, Marquinhos, Ramos and Donnaruma.
Even more so after last year disappointment against future champions, Real Madrid (a tie they absolutely dominated for 80% of the time and should have won 9 times out of 10 if it weren't for a big refereeing error on Real's first goal and if it weren't for some godly performances by Courtois and Benzema).
to me, the biggest question mark about them this season would be Neymar and Marquinhos's mental state after another WC disappointment for them and Brazil
 

TheNewEra

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They mostly won't.

CL is a different monster, and Messi has been kinda mediocre against very good sides in the UCL for 3 season in a row now...not like he has to prove anything, but his advanced age has been more exposed at the UCL due to better opposition than what you find at international level.

I don't see PSG winning the UCL this season, and i think this is Messi last season at PSG.
I think PSG win the CL this year, but I think Messi goes to Barca in the summer to have a proper send off.

I think they'll offload FDJ in the summer as fall out to sign Messi though, since they'll want Messi to play slightly deeper and they're stacked in other positions.
 

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I think PSG win the CL this year, but I think Messi goes to Barca in the summer to have a proper send off.

I think they'll offload FDJ in the summer as fall out to sign Messi though, since they'll want Messi to play slightly deeper and they're stacked in other positions.
Barca need more than just 36 years old Messi, the team looks mediocre against very good opposition, even the likes of Gavi and Pedri have looked mediocre in the UCL.
They aren't gonna solve that just signing old Messi.

They need a total rebuild, signing a past it GOAT, who will mostly struggle due to advanced age, seems like a wrong move.
 
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bosnian_red

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At his age Messi had already won 3 CLs, starring in 08/09 & 10/11 finals, and was on his way to receive his 3rd Ballon d'Or, putting him up in contention for the GOAT status.
He won't reach Messi but IMO he will be in the conversation with Ronaldo. He's already won a world cup, and in all likelihood in the next world cup become the all time top world cup goalscorer. And has a ridiculous goal record in the CL.
 

Sayros

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Not only that. Assuming that the next Ballon d'Or is Messi's now, Mbappe can win his first with 25. Since Messi will have 8 then, Mbappe would need to win 8 out of the next 10 to match him at 35. He has more or less already lost on this front.

Besides, Mbappe is turning 24 in two days. The season Messi turned 24, he scored 73 goals. Mbappe is on course for 45 or so currently.
That's not really a good take IMO, Ballon d'Ors don't exist in a vacuum, they're pretty much based around the competitors you have at the time. Messi was head and shoulders above everybody, and had the greatest club team ever assembled at his service, which he had a large part in making that team so incredible. Mbappe's competition for individual awards is much, much higher than what Messi dealt with for the first half of his career, until CR7 came around and even then it was more or less a two-horse race. I said at the time it wouldn't take long to see other players put out stats like they did, and sure enough the Lewandowski's, Mbappe's, Haaland's, and even Benzema started reaching those incredible figures that we hardly saw prior to those two.
Now that Messi and CR7 are on their way out, I expect Mbappe to collect a few of his own, but the number of Ballon d'Ors aren't necessarily a reflection of a players' absolute greatness, or at least not solely that, because it's a silly award that doesn't always make sense (Ribery should have won it over Messi in 2013 for example, Zidane should have won it over Figo in 2000 but for a headbutt, Modric should never have won it in 2019, and Lewandowski got screwed out of one just because of Covid, just a few examples) but also a lack of individual, game-changing players, and team success (although now I hear they've taken team achievements a bit more out of the equation, however that works).
 

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That's not really a good take IMO, Ballon d'Ors don't exist in a vacuum, they're pretty much based around the competitors you have at the time. Messi was head and shoulders above everybody, and had the greatest club team ever assembled at his service, which he had a large part in making that team so incredible. Mbappe's competition for individual awards is much, much higher than what Messi dealt with for the first half of his career, until CR7 came around and even then it was more or less a two-horse race. I said at the time it wouldn't take long to see other players put out stats like they did, and sure enough the Lewandowski's, Mbappe's, Haaland's, and even Benzema started reaching those incredible figures that we hardly saw prior to those two.
Now that Messi and CR7 are on their way out, I expect Mbappe to collect a few of his own, but the number of Ballon d'Ors aren't necessarily a reflection of a players' absolute greatness, or at least not solely that, because it's a silly award that doesn't always make sense (Ribery should have won it over Messi in 2013 for example, Zidane should have won it over Figo in 2000 but for a headbutt, Modric should never have won it in 2019, and Lewandowski got screwed out of one just because of Covid, just a few examples) but also a lack of individual, game-changing players, and team success (although now I hear they've taken team achievements a bit more out of the equation, however that works).
Well, Cristiano won his first one before Messi. So Messi actually had fiercer competition than Mbappe I believe since it doesn't really look like there is another player like that on the horizon, currently. And let's be real, if Ballon d'Ors were about the best player and less about team accolades, then Messi would have even more.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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Not only that. Assuming that the next Ballon d'Or is Messi's now, Mbappe can win his first with 25. Since Messi will have 8 then, Mbappe would need to win 8 out of the next 10 to match him at 35. He has more or less already lost on this front.

Besides, Mbappe is turning 24 in two days. The season Messi turned 24, he scored 73 goals. Mbappe is on course for 45 or so currently.
I wouldn’t assume Messi will win the next Ballon d’Or. Mbappé had an equivalent tournament and there’s a chance Messi understandably drops off a bit after this with him having got the last piece of the puzzle, whereas Mbappé might go to another level in anger. Messi will also probably go to America by next summer, it’s a long way to the Ballon d’Or yet.
 

dinostar77

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Messi will get the balon dor based on this world cup. Its happened before, cannavaro getting it for 06 world cup.
 

RoyH1

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Will enter the great players debate if he can continue another decade, already ahead of Messi & Ronaldo at his age.

Goals + Assists + a WC already.

He will get maybe another WC, a few CLs and a few Ballon d'Ors if he keeps outputting at this level.

Also I'd be very surprised if he doesn't go to Real Madrid, unless he gets absurd oil money for the rest of his career to make PSG into a powerhouse.

Kind of wonder what he'll be like with a bit less pace though as he gets older, but his finishing is as good as any.
He's never going to go to Real Madrid. They cannot afford those astronomical wages and bonuses that far outstrip normal income, specially now that the SuperLeague is all but dead. There's a reason they're buying teenagers in Brazil.

If he leaves. it's to the PL. Whatever he lost in wages he'd win in marketing. But I think PSG is going to keep on being bankrolled until they have the worlds best at every position and they can win the CL
 

Laurencio

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He's never going to go to Real Madrid. They cannot afford those astronomical wages and bonuses that far outstrip normal income, specially now that the SuperLeague is all but dead. There's a reason they're buying teenagers in Brazil.

If he leaves. it's to the PL. Whatever he lost in wages he'd win in marketing. But I think PSG is going to keep on being bankrolled until they have the worlds best at every position and they can win the CL
They'll sell PSG, buy Man Utd and transfer Mbappe to Manchester.
 

amolbhatia50k

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That's not really a good take IMO, Ballon d'Ors don't exist in a vacuum, they're pretty much based around the competitors you have at the time. Messi was head and shoulders above everybody, and had the greatest club team ever assembled at his service, which he had a large part in making that team so incredible. Mbappe's competition for individual awards is much, much higher than what Messi dealt with for the first half of his career, until CR7 came around and even then it was more or less a two-horse race. I said at the time it wouldn't take long to see other players put out stats like they did, and sure enough the Lewandowski's, Mbappe's, Haaland's, and even Benzema started reaching those incredible figures that we hardly saw prior to those two.
Now that Messi and CR7 are on their way out, I expect Mbappe to collect a few of his own, but the number of Ballon d'Ors aren't necessarily a reflection of a players' absolute greatness, or at least not solely that, because it's a silly award that doesn't always make sense (Ribery should have won it over Messi in 2013 for example, Zidane should have won it over Figo in 2000 but for a headbutt, Modric should never have won it in 2019, and Lewandowski got screwed out of one just because of Covid, just a few examples) but also a lack of individual, game-changing players, and team success (although now I hear they've taken team achievements a bit more out of the equation, however that works).
When Messi won his first he was competing with Ronaldo. Completion doesn't get harder than that. Messi was so way ahead at the time because he was a freak of nature. Even today that Messi would win the Balon Dor every year. Or should at least.

Not that it matters as it's not the be all and end all and really after a certain point has become all about trophies. But Messi was easily the best player then as he would be today (transferring that version of him here)

In all likelyhood Mbappe's competition will be Haaland. And I don't believe Haaland is a great footballer. So in terms of best player in the world Mbappe has a free run unless someone else turns it on. Otherwise when it comes to achievements, goals, bAlon dors of course Haaland will be stiff opposition.
 

harms

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Mbappe's competition for individual awards is much, much higher than what Messi dealt with for the first half of his career, until CR7 came around and even then it was more or less a two-horse race
Cristiano came around earlier than Messi, winning Ballon d’Or in 2008 in case you didn’t notice. He also had peak Xavi & Iniesta with the all-conquering Spanish NT team to compete with as well as outliers like Sneijder & Ribery with perfect seasons.

It’s the other way round, by far.