He may struggle with each selection, even with, sometimes, three and a half seconds of playing time, but Olivier Giroud knows it, deep down. Despite returns or headbutts coming out of nowhere, Kylian Mbappé will one day, and it probably won’t be counted in years, chase him from his title of top scorer for the France team. With ten goals behind the former Gunner, the Parisian striker could even go ahead during the next Euro.
46 goals in the selection, pending the match against Greece this Tuesday, for qualifying for Euro 2024, 27 with Monaco and 227 with PSG. No need to have participated in “Numbers and Letters” for the account to be good. Yes, that’s 300 goals since the start of his career for the Kyks. All at just 24 years and 333 days old. Better than Neymar (277), Messi (274) or Cristiano Ronaldo (158) at the same age, reports The Team.
“300 is ridiculous”
So, you see us coming, obviously. If Bondy’s kid does better in passing times than the other machines, how far can he go? “I have always wanted to make the history of my sport,” assured the captain of the Blues soberly after his hat-trick against Gibraltar. Some players scored 800, others 850. Three hundred, compared to that, is ridiculous! This is a step for me, and I want to continue to be decisive for my national team and my club. »
If he continues to ride the current dynamic, with around fifty goals per season, Kylian Mbappé could be close to 800 goals in around ten years, at 35 years old. Close, therefore, to the current number of goals of Leo Messi (821) and Cristiano Ronaldo (860). “He can reach and even exceed the figures achieved by Messi or Ronaldo, that’s for sure,” said French international Steve Savidan. He is like them in their heyday, he is in a team which dominates its championship, and that will continue for several years. And, in the French team, he is accompanied by a super generation. »
“A thousand goals is a lifetime”
Messi and CR7 are good. But can Mbappé surpass Pelé and, according to the legend constructed by himself, 1,283 goals? “A thousand goals is a lifetime,” laughs Elie Baup, the former coach of Bordeaux and Marseille. For Mbappé, around 700 goals would already become an achievement. And beating Cristiano Ronaldo would be exceptional. » “The 1,000 goals will be difficult, but achievable,” retorts Savidan. Then how ?
- By improving on certain points, according to the former Valenciennes player: “He has a lot of room for improvement on free kicks. He can also improve in the heading game. For that, he also has to be in the box, but that is not his strong point, nor his role, because it is rather him who crosses. And whether he stays at PSG or leaves for another club, he will have to continue to take penalties. »
- By changing his game a little as he gets older, according to the former Toulouse coach: “With time, as Luis Enrique says a little, he will have to participate a little more, have more movements in relation to the collective, be more in the collective movement, which saves individual efforts. And that would allow him to stay within his goal standards, thanks to the use of his partners. »
“The players will not have the same longevity”
Above all, he will have to preserve himself. Apart from being sidelined for a month due to grumpiness this season, and a hamstring injury which kept him away from the field for thirty days in 2019-2020, Kylian Mbappé has, for the moment, escaped the reaper. “Seasons with 50 goals remain exceptional, because you have to have vigilance, lucidity every three days, optimal recovery,” emphasizes Elie Baup. And, even if he does not want to be the bird of ill omen, the Saint-Gaudinois doubts that Donatello will be able to last the length, and therefore, score at all costs.
Today, young players are starting earlier and earlier, and may not have the longevity of Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi. The number of matches is greater in the selection, the new format of the Champions League will also offer more matches. Players will not have the same longevity, as there will be premature wear. Doing ten seasons with matches every three days is not possible. There are too many matches, too much entertainment, which will wear out the organizations, even psychologically. »
So, before the Kyks take the walker and come to tell us, during the long winter evenings, this 40 meter lob scored against Gibraltar, if you know when we broke the record for the biggest victory in the For the French team, all we have to do is take advantage of Bondy’s genius, no matter if it’s for five, ten or fifteen years. “I often say, let’s be happy that he is French,” underlined Thierry Henry. It’s extraordinary, let’s keep watching it. » At least it will allow us to have proof of all the goals he has scored. Not like Pelé.