Is there a more symbolic place in the world to equal Edinson Cavani’s goal record than the Stade Vélodrome, this volcano hostile to PSG, for Kylian Mbappé, the little prince of the Park? After his new double in what the Farmers League history books will call the “Parisian miracle”, last weekend against Losc, the Parisian number 7 is only three small pawns away from becoming the best. scorer in the history of PSG by dethroning the former idol of the Park. And if that doesn’t happen in Marseille on Sunday in the third Classic of the season, it’s only a matter of time before the Kyks dethrone the fisherman from Montevideo on the stats table.
Moreover, the question is no longer so much to know when he will beat the fisherman from Montevideo, but rather by how much will he surpass him, he who will be out of contract in June 2024 (or in 2025, if and only if the player decides lift this option) and whose future could come back to the table at the end of this season. Indeed, while the club will play a large part of its future in Marseille and then in Munich, Kylian Mbappé and Paris will quickly have to sit around a table to cut the piece of fat.
And while everyone saw him leaving the ship last summer to join Real Madrid, after a new fiasco in the Champions League against these same Madrid, the context has changed quite a bit in the space of a few months. Indisputable and undisputed leader of Paris Saint-Germain, could Mbappé therefore choose to pursue his career in the long term in the club of his city?
Mbappé, sole master of his destiny
On paper, the answer leans very clearly towards no. After being promised the arrival of a top striker of international stature at his side last summer and the dropping in the middle of the campaign of his former “bro” Neymar, with whom the current no longer really passes, Mbappé had to swallow a few snakes and realize that the words of its leaders were not worth much when it came to taking action.
“It’s not impossible that during the season he said to himself ‘what have I done? Did I really draw a line under my dream of Real Madrid for that?’, reflected Jérôme Alonzo aloud. He knows we sold him something that we didn’t give him. We sold him the departure of Neymar and the arrival of Lewandowski. Good luck trying to keep it after that! You already scammed him once, you better be persuasive this summer”.
“The shoulders for this leader costume”
Everything would therefore be in place for the unfortunate hero of the last World Cup final to decide to stop the costs. However, as paradoxical as it may seem, the idea of seeing Mbappé extend his career at PSG for a long time does not appear at all absurd. For what ? Already because we are talking about Kylian Mbappé, a special player on and off the field. A player who seems to take pleasure in taking everyone on the wrong foot to write his own story. But, above all, a player who succeeded despite the arrival of Leo Messi to show that PSG was him, and no one else.
“At club level, with what is being said around the departure of Neymar and Messi, everything suggests that PSG has the idea of accelerating and solidifying the project around Mbappé, explains former defender Jimmy Algerino. He not only claimed and obtained the keys to the project last summer, but above all he has since confirmed that he had the shoulders for this leader’s costume. You just have to see how he put the public of the Parc des Princes in his pocket”.
New idol of the Parc des Princes
It is true that if the love story between the Park, in particular the Auteuil bend, and Kylian Mbappé took time to become a reality, it is no longer in doubt now. It is enough to see the state of trance of the Parisian public when they entered the game at half-time in the first leg against Bayern to understand the new nature of Mbappé’s status in Paris. Since his return from the World Cup, the former Monegasque has had a song to his glory (to the tune of Sara perché ti amo), which is a rare privilege granted to only a handful of players (Rai, Pauleta, Cavani ).
Asked by our colleagues from Parisian, Romain Mabille, the leader of Collectif Ultras Paris, confirms this: “We won’t do it for everyone. It’s for players who mark the history of the club, who have a special relationship with the Virage. Kylian is a young man from the Paris region, he is the best player in the world today, he loves PSG, respects it, carries it on his shoulders and in a very beautiful way. If we can give it 1% more strength, the desire to go even further, we will. This is our role. Above all, we support the club, but players who do things like that, we have to wear them. »
“Little by little, he becomes the equal of a Raï, a Pauleta or a Ronaldinho, I feel it by talking to people in the street and seeing them at the stadium. With the strength of the wrist, Kylian managed to completely reverse the trend and truly win the hearts of fans, confirms Prime Video consultant Jérôme Alonzo. Because he’s very strong, of course, but also because he’s kind of one of the only ones who doesn’t hide, who yells after defeats, who goes to the fire in front of the press. His attitude after Lille’s third goal, where he makes it clear “no, but there, guys, you’re kidding”, it denotes a leadership character, he took this costume, he feels good in it and that people feel it . »
Leader on the field but also outside
Leader on the field, Mbappé is also outside, as demonstrated by his speech after the miraculous victory against Losc. Jérôme Alonzo: “When he came to our microphone on Sunday, he had a boss speech, far from what Marquinhos can do. He was honest, he spoke of a miracle victory, he said basically that they had been bogus, that the account was not there and that we were going to have to do much better. It is not for nothing that Christophe Galtier gave him the captain’s armband during the Coupe de France match against Pays-de-Cassel in January, at the risk of creating a stir in the locker room. At the end of the match against Bayern, it was again he who spoke in the locker room to remobilize everyone in anticipation of the return match.
“His love for the club is not feigned and everything in his attitude tends to prove that he wants to register for the long term with PSG, analyzes the former Parisian goalkeeper. It now remains to know the nature of the project of the Parisian leaders. Will they act on the failure of the MNM and break the trio in order to build a solid and balanced team around Kylian Mbappé or will they persist with Messi and Neymar? “. If the hypothesis of the extension of La Pulga has long held the rope, it seems that the idea of a departure from the Argentinian has since made its way on one side or the other.
“Messi, it was a mistake, slice Alonzo. Now we must not insist, the guy does not want to extend, it’s a godsend, you jump on it to reuse the money and build something solid and serious around Mbappé. “At club level, with what is being said around the possible departure of Neymar at the end of the season, even if it will not be easy to part with it, there is no longer any doubt that Mbappé is the center of the Parisian project, ”agrees Algerino. But to convince him of this, it will take much more than fine words next summer. Because you can fool a thousand times, but you can’t fool a thousand times, or something like that…