The story you didn’t know about the young Frenchman, who surprised from the lower categories of AS Monaco
Son of Brazilians and born in Portugal, Leonardo Miramar remember in detail the first times you saw it Kylian Mbappé in the U19 team of MonacoAlthough he was very young, the star of PSG, who faced the Bayern Munich In the quarter-finals of the Champions League, he demonstrated all the talent that would captivate the world years later.
“I was about 16 years old when we trained with the Monaco B team, which had a lot of older boys, 20 years old. In the one-on-one exercise he destroyed the opponents. He took the defenders and left everyone on the ground. “It was an ugly thing (laughs). We said, ‘Wow, the boy killed everyone, ”the forward, currently at RWD Molenbeek in Belgium, told ESPN.com.br.
Although he was three years younger than the age limit for the category, the French remained.
“Mbappé had a lot of speed and the ability to define very well. He already scored 10 goals in the first five games of the U-19. He scored goals very easily.
“It was common in the grassroots powers for a player to stand out, to nickname him after Brazilian stars, especially Ronaldinho Gaucho. Mbappé was called ‘Kylianinho’ because he was very good at the ball. He liked that nickname,” explained he explains.
Despite his great talent, his former colleagues saw the French as an easy person to get along with on a daily basis.
“We played off the field a lot because he kept pissing off his older teammates. He got on well with everyone and we liked to joke. He was a very polite and nice guy,” she said.
Leonardo states that other boys are in the youth categories of Monaco They were just as popular as Mbappé at the time, but the PSG forward was the only one who managed to become a high-level player.
“He was considered a very great talent, but many others who went through the basics looked like that too. When he went to the first team, they saw that he was different from the others because he came with great maturity and confidence. received.” “
After just one year on the U19 team, Mbappé He made his debut for Monaco in the 2014/2015 season.
“We wondered if he would do that well in the professional first division and he maintained his level. It’s very special. The following year he made his jump to the first team and I never saw him again (laughs).”
Since then, the forward has established himself as one of the big names in football champion of the 2018 World Cup with France at just 19 years old.