Don’t get me wrong, I actually like the guy, he is a wonderful footballer, I even own a France shirt of his. His NT career has been AMAZING. He didn’t do much in the Euros, but on the two World Cups he has played he was incredible, he has the potential to finish his career as one of the best WC players of all time, if not even the best if he’s a little lucky.
But, if we only focus on his club career, has he achieved anything as great? At his age, Messi and Ronaldo had already won UCL, Ballon d’Or (Messi multiple ones), threepeating the two best leagues in the world and destroying every team in the world in general. Haaland who is his main rival according to the media and 2 years younger than him, left Norway, played in Austria, joined Dortmund, then joined Man City and finally won a treble, finishing 2nd in the Ballon d’Or. All that in a matter of 4 years.
Meanwhile, Mbappe has been playing in the exact same league for 8 years now, a league that’s currently ranked 6th-5th, with potential to be even 7th. There’s nothing wrong with staying in the same team, even in a less competitive league, if you actually dominate the UCL. Even PSG board members have stated that UCL has been their number one priority for years. But, the reality is very far from that target: round of 16 exits, humiliations, now they might even not get out of their group. Mbappe has been very underwhelming in the UCL this season, with 3 goals, 2 of them penalties. The only time PSG came actually close to winning the competition was 2020, but Neymar was their main man, Mbappe hadn’t scored a single goal past the group stages. So, his best UCL season so far remains… 2016/17 for Monaco, since then it has been underwhelming for him, or his team, or both.
One might say that UCL isn’t the only competition out there, surely. Mbappe has been Ligue 1’s top scorer for 6 consecutive seasons and has won the competition 6 times. It’s very impressive. Or, is it? Mbappe scored 29 league goals last season, while 32 year old Lacazette scored 27, playing for 7th placed Lyon. In comparison, Lacazette had scored 5 goals in 30 EPL games in the previous season (2021/22) and had never even scored 15 league goals in EPL in a single season. Many people memed him and called him “Alexander Lack-of-threat”. But surely, he might have found his good old self now, it has nothing to do with Ligue 1. Let’s see other players who scored more than 20 goals in the competition last season: David, Openda, Balogun, Habib Diallo. Very decent players, especially Openda, but not exactly what one would call “world class”. Compare that to Messi and Ronaldo competing with each other and Suarez, Villa, Eto’O, Griezmann etc for the golden boot, or Haaland competing against the likes of Kane, Salah, Son etc and you can see the difference. In 2021/22 Mbappe competed with Ben Yedder, Terrier and Moussa Dembele. Other players that scored 20 or similar amount of goals in that league include Nicolas Pepe, Mariano Diaz and Balottelli. The definition of meme players. So, Mbappe’s numbers in Ligue 1 barely matter, the competition is bad and most players who score tons of goals there fail miserably in other leagues.
So, if we only look at his club career, so far it’s just a guy scoring a lot of league goals outside of the top leagues and nothing more than that.
God Madrid fans are insufferable. When he joins next year, u will be the first getting his kit. We all know what he did against y’all in the UCL
What a shit point
As a Frenchman, it hurts me to say it but you are right. Since 2018, he’s clearly one of the best if not the best player of internal football but his club career is deceptive. I like watching Ligue 1 because I am attached to it and because my team plays in it but I don’t care if he can score 30+ goals in L1 every season: Last year, multiple players passed the 20 goal mark.
I dont understand, if ligue 1 is so Bad, why are best spanish or english teams still buying french players or ligue 1 players ? I still remember what Messi did in ligue 1 ? His stats where nothing related to when he was in barca, maybe because the liga défense, except for 3 or 4 teams, are pure batshit …
I dont understand, if ligue 1 is so Bad, why are best spanish or english teams still buying french players or ligue 1 players ?
Nobody said Ligue 1 it’s bad, but it’s closer to Eredivisie and Portuguese league than the other top leagues. EPL and La Liga teams also buy players from those leagues as well, doesn’t mean they are amazing leagues overall.
I still remember what Messi did in ligue 1 ? His stats where nothing related to when he was in barca
Also forgot the fact that Messi went in Ligue 1 at 33 and he never looked like giving a shit about club football, he was only focused in the WC. His 2nd season was good in terms of output, 32 G&A in 32 league games isn’t bad by any means.
maybe because the liga défense, except for 3 or 4 teams, are pure batshit …
First of all, you can’t judge two whole leagues by one player. I presented multiple examples of players dominating Ligue 1 and then failing miserably on other leagues and your best example is a 34 year old not being as good as when he was on his 20s? Well, no shit, who could have expected that.
Second, you probably haven’t watched a single La Liga game, since most teams are notorious for park the bus tactics and really tight defenses in general, with many fouls commited as well. Also wanna compare leagues? There are currently 4 Spanish teams TOPPING their UCL groups, Betis, Villareal and possibly Sevilla have a realistic shot at winning UEL. Yet Ligue 1’s best team by far is struggling to even qualify in the round of 16 and the rest are just… somewhere, nobody really knows.
People really Care about ballon d’or ? This ballon d’or is a joke. And he scored his 300 carreer goal, already won a World cup while haaland will never play a major competition with Norway.
I literally had the word “CLUB” capitalised in the title of the post, yet you’re only talking about national teams, further proving my point.
He needs to leave for RM at the end of this season. He’s racked enough money from psg.
Playing devils advocate but Mbappe is from Paris, winning a Champions League with PSG would mean a HELL of a lot more in Paris rather then being another footnote in Real Madrid or Barca history or another cog in the Man City machine.
I’m sure his wages are the biggest factor but he’s a kid who gets paid more then anyone outside of Saudi, gets to play in his own city, and still be considered one of the best in the world.
At this age Higuain was already at the biggest club in the world.
Regardless of the league, we can see his talent and its once in a generation ability. I’m sire he’ll prove himself in other leagues soon, but I’m glad he has spent time as psg and done his part to elevate the French league
The guy is still young and I’d say no one really reaches players like Messi and Ronaldo. M’bappe could definitely put up better numbers, but he’s still got time and he has won almost everything granted it’s a team game.
I think his main mistake was caving to PSG and not moving on, he clearly wanted to go to Madrid and is just playing for PSG for the sake of promises he was made. I’m not saying he’s half assing it but you put in nowhere near the same effort mentally when you don’t really care about where you’re at.
I know it is not what you’re saying but I don’t think it matters. Scoring in a world cup final as a teenager and then getting a hat-trick in the next final is already enough to get you in the pantheon of legends of the game.
I agree with this post if you remove Haaland
Haaland who is his main rival according to the media and 2 years younger than him, left Norway, played in Austria, joined Dortmund, then joined Man City and finally won a treble, finishing 2nd in the Ballon d’Or. All that in a matter of 4 years.
Haaland joined a better team and yet, looking at stats, he’s not as good overall as Mbappé. He’s slightly better in terms of shooting and goalscoring but nowhere near Mbappé in terms of passing, dribbling and playmaking.
If you wanna do this, at least look at more stats and context.
And Maradona’s club career os closer to Giroud. Except Giroud has lots of titles.
When he leads the Chicago Fire to dynastic glory, this will cement his club legacy
Mbappe has achieved essentially nothing of note in his club career.
He won the domestic double with Monaco at the age of 18 though