Kylian Mbappe

"Only the second teenager to have scored a goal in a World Cup Final! Welcome to the club - it's great to have some company!" - Pelé This was the praise lauded upon Kylian Mbappé who, at just 19 years of age, led the French national team to triumph at the 2018 World Cup. As golden confetti rained down from the sky, millions across the globe watched as the young man kissed the iconic trophy; the heir to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best footballer in the world had announced himself. It was his crowning moment. In Kylian Mbappé, Julien Laurens, the world's leading French football journalist, paints a vivid and detailed portrait of Mbappé's meteoric rise to global stardom. After a decade of covering Kylian's career, Julien has had unprecedented access to the player, his inner circle, his coaches, team-mates and family. From Mbappé's humble upbringing in the suburbs of Paris and his schooling at the infamous Clairefontaine football academy, to his peerless rise with AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain, Julien crafts an intimate account of Mbappé's early life and career. We then witness how - at the age of just 19 - becoming a world superstar affected Mbappé, and those closest to him. As he returned to Paris Saint-Germain, he was to develop a love-hate relationship with his boyhood club and its chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, which culminated in tense discussions over a new contract in 2022. Despite countless domestic trophies, the Champions League eluded Mbappé, and friction grew between himself and his team-mates, Neymar and Messi. This came to a head at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where Mbappé spearheaded France to a second consecutive final, facing off against Messi's Argentina. Despite heroically scoring a hat-trick, Mbappé and France lost on penalties. Only four years separated the two World Cups, yet the Mbappé who had reached the 2022 final was unrecognisable from the one who had won it in 2018. Julien takes us behind-the-scenes of this time, into the inner workings of Mbappé's psyche, whilst also revealing the true story of his long-awaited transfer to Real Madrid in the summer of 2024, after relations between Mbappé and Al-Khelaifi broke down completely. The book will also cover Mbappé's first season at the Spanish giants, the 2024 Euros, and the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, with the paperback updated to cover the 2026 World Cup in USA, Canada and Mexico, where Mbappé is sure to reach new heights with France. Authoritative, compelling and gripping, this is the definitive biography of the world's greatest footballer.

Julien Laurens