Kylian Mbappe will celebrate his 19th birthday on Wednesday by turning out for Paris Saint-Germain against Caen in Ligue 1.
To say that the teenager has enjoyed an incredible year would be underselling what he has achieved.
From Monaco substitute, he has grown at impossible speed into one of the world’s premier footballers, boasting the second biggest price tag in the history of the game and finishing seventh in the voting for the Ballon d’Or.
Indeed, he has already accomplished more than most players will in their entire professional careers, while he has completed the transition from the principality side to the capital giants relatively seamlessly.
The scrutiny he finds himself under at the Parc des Princes is infinitely greater than it ever was when he was a relative unknown breaking through on the Mediterranean coast, yet even after receiving the first genuine criticism of his career earlier this season, he has bounced back in the type of style that further confirms the belief he is a superstar of the future.
He has already shown himself to have broad enough shoulders to lead one of the best teams in the world. Indeed, it was when Neymar was missing that Mbappe came most prominently to the fore, powering PSG past Lille while the Brazil star was on family business earlier this month. He is a young man growing impressively into his role.
Everything has seemed to come so naturally to the Paris-born player, who was welcomed as a returning hero when he completed a loan move in August, with a transfer inevitable at the end of the season for an eye-watering €145 million – making him comfortably the most expensive teenager ever, even before taking into account a potential €35m bonus.
But perhaps that is to be expected for a young man who has never known any different. After all, Neymar no less pestered him to sign for PSG in the summer.
“Before I arrived late in the transfer window, he would not stop sending me messages to ask about the move,” Mbappe revealed to France Football. “'When are you getting here?' I told him: 'Wait, I am on my way.' But, as it took a bit of time, I think he was thinking: 'He lied, he is not coming.'”
Since arriving at Parc des Princes, he has been mentored by the former Barcelona star, who has made him something of his protégée.
“He did everything to make me feel at ease,” the teenager said of his team-mate. “On the pitch, he was looking for me and passing to me often. When a player like him welcomes you like that, obviously it helps you to settle into the dressing room.”
Amid all the hullaballoo, Mbappe has not lost the free-spirited nature that saw him explode out of Monaco. While he shone domestically, it was his performances against Manchester City and Dortmund in the Champions League that really saw him transcend to another level.
In those two ties along he scored five goals, while he later ended the great Gianluigi Buffon’s run of invincibility in the semi-finals. It is a strike that may come to be seen as symbolic in the years ahead.
Although that goal was in vain, he has since become the youngest player ever to hit double figures in Europe’s foremost club competition, while there is a very real prospect of him gracing his first final with PSG in 2018.
Neymar moved away from Barcelona to get away from the shadow of Lionel Messi, but in time could find himself eclipsed by Mbappe. The youngster is not at his level yet, but if he continues his stellar rate of progression, by the time he is 20, he could very well be vying with the Brazilian for status as the star of his hometown side.
