Ukbrotha
Superstar
He's special but I dont think he's in the MBappe/Haaland tier yet.
Essential The Official Football (Soccer) Thread - We are SO back, the Premier League returns!
He's special but I dont think he's in the MBappe/Haaland tier yet.
TobiOT
Veteran
Surprised he hasn't picked up an injury, thank christ. Watch Ole play him against Sociedad tomorrow night.He wont be doing that once Ole runs him lame
If we lose him, our season is done. Losing Pogba for a month is bad enough, but losing our source of goals and assist minus Dr Marcus?
At least Sporting were able to replace him and they're doing very well since they don't need to rely on Bruno, unlike us right now.
Kunty McPhuck
Scust Szn has Returned
Surprised he hasn't picked up an injury, thank christ. Watch Ole play him against Sociedad tomorrow night.
If we lose him, our season is done. Losing Pogba for a month is bad enough, but losing our source of goals and assist minus Dr Marcus?
At least Sporting were able to replace him and they're doing very well since they don't need to rely on Bruno, unlike us right now.
Ole needs to be shot hung drawn and quartered if Bruno & Rashford touches the grass tomorrow in the 90 mins.
He's a gunman like Vardy, my favorite type of players.
Where do you think he eventually plays?
TobiOT
Veteran
Speaking of young talent. Mason Gunwood could be in that convo, but I think he needs someone like Pep to guide him. He's steadily doing the small things that will help him in the longrun.
Trajan
Veteran
This
He's a very good player... I always like what I see when I watch him but Haaland and Mbappe are elite NOW.. You can literally chuck them in any team and they're automatic starters.. Whereas the others need a bit more polish
Saka too. Better than most grown men
Ukbrotha
Superstar
Saka and Greenwood need top coaches to help nuture their talent.
Kunty McPhuck
Scust Szn has Returned
I have no idea. I do like him out on the right wing mainly because of being a Waddle and Savicevic stan and that was his position in the WC u17 team . But then I think England havent had someone who can dribble and drive with close control from central since the 90's and his goal vs France.
I did find this interesting gem on the athletic
It all depends on who are the Citeh and England coaches are. But he probably does end up as a CM well LCM/RCM in a 3 or a CAM. That clown Boothroyd was playing him deeper for the u21's because he can spray a hollywood ball.
England havent done anything with a long ball since Bobby Moore found Geoff Hurst in the 120th min with some people running onto the pitchJean toomer
Superstar
Musiala’s young but looking slick as hell. But he’s German so...
Kunty McPhuck
Scust Szn has Returned
They also have the grown man physique to go with the skills. Which probably puts them ahead of most others in their development much like how Real Ronaldo was.
Kunty McPhuck
Scust Szn has Returned
Kylian Mbappe is football’s Magic Johnson: sit back and enjoy the show
As he backpedalled towards the Nou Camp corner flag, beckoning his Paris Saint-Germain team-mates towards him with arms outstretched and a stoic nod of his head, Kylian Mbappe also seemed to be conducting his own coronation. After completing a spectacular hat-trick against Barcelona, the narrative of a changing of the Ballon d’Or guard would have been compelling enough without a weary and dejected Lionel Messi being present on the same pitch. With him looking on, it felt irresistible.
How strange, then, to take a step back and realise that we are already two-and-a-half years removed from what is likely to be Mbappe’s legacy-defining achievement: a World Cup final triumph — the holy grail that has managed to elude Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo — with France at the first time of asking, sealed with a goal that saw him become the first teenager to score on that grandest of football stages since Pele did it 60 years earlier.
Great talent tends to present itself early, but only a select few obtain the sweetest rewards that greatness can bestow before their primes. Most compete in individual sports where fewer variables can deny them: Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Boris Becker and Rafael Nadal all won grand slam tennis titles before their 20th birthdays, and Roger Federer was 21 when he claimed his first Wimbledon. Tiger Woods was 21 when he got his first green jacket at The Masters. Mike Tyson was 20 when he demolished Trevor Berbick to become the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history, and Muhammad Ali was just 22 when he humiliated Sonny Liston.
Mbappe is enough of a student of sport to know the lofty company he now keeps.
He is particularly passionate about basketball, sitting courtside at Oracle Arena for the decisive Game Six of the 2019 NBA finals between Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors and attending the game staged in Paris between Milwaukee Bucks and Charlotte Hornets the following January. Last month, he partnered with fellow Nike athlete LeBron James for ‘The Chosen 2’, a collaboration that featured bespoke editions of the LeBron 18 shoe and Nike Mercurial football boot intended to highlight their parallel paths to greatness.
The comparison has merit beyond mere marketing: James, like Mbappe, proved himself a physical and technical marvel from day one of his professional career, despite suffocating hype. But in the pantheon of basketball greats, he is not the legend whose style and story resonates most with PSG’s superstar forward.
That man played his last NBA game two years before Mbappe was even born.
That man is Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr.
Magic first became an NBA champion around the same time he could legally drink at 21. Mbappe, similarly, helped France to win the World Cup at the age of 19. Reaching their sport’s pinnacle at such a young age set both men up for careers that would be defined on the quest to do it again, and again, and again. Winning, ultimately, deciding the place of both in the lexicon of greatness.
A flashy set-up man by trade, Magic could cover the gamut on a basketball court. In Game Six of the 1980 NBA Finals, his rookie season, the point guard played center instead in the Los Angeles Lakers’ series-clinching victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, posting 42 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. It’s an achievement still celebrated more than 40 years later. It was an exercise in greatness. A great basketball player was a great basketball player, no matter his position.
Mbappe, too, carries this flexibility. A speedy, powerful and artful No 9 at his best, Mbappe acted as a right winger during his nation’s run for world supremacy in football at Russia 2018. In a position that still allowed the 19-year-old to be expressive and dangerous, he brought his own flavour to the flank, similarly to how Magic was still Magic with his back closer to the basket in that 1980 clincher.
There’s a reason these men can seamlessly navigate their respective mediums of expression. They were born to do this.
Hailing from Lansing in Michigan, where he led Everett High School to its first-ever state championship as a senior, Magic was a prodigy. He earned the nickname “Magic” at 15 because it was hard to believe the things he was doing with the ball. Colleges across the nation lined up for his services. Magic, whose parents both played basketball in their youth, decided on nearby Michigan State University. As a sophomore, in 1979, he led the school to its first NCAA basketball title.
Thirty-plus years later, across the pond in Paris, Mbappe, who, too, came from an athletic background with parents who played football and handball, was subject to a similar courtship at a young age. Europe’s elite football clubs welcomed a teenage Mbappe to their stadia, as all tried to land the services of the French whiz kid. Real Madrid. Chelsea. Bayern Munich. The who’s who of European soccer attempted to get Mbappe under their roof. He eventually chose Monaco, a Ligue 1 club in the south of France with a rich domestic history of their own.
After Michigan State, Magic was the first overall pick in the 1979 NBA Draft. This paired him with all-time great big man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the Lakers and created one of the best one-two punches in league history. Along the same lines, Mbappe, after helping Monaco win the 2016-17 title as a 18-year-old, was handpicked by Paris Saint-Germain to play alongside its newly acquired and further-along superstar Neymar to create one of the most spectacular combos in European club football.
The parallels between Magic and Mbappe run deep. For both, it’s a story of how youth excellence has transformed and carried into exceptionalism at the grandest of stages. What perhaps links them more than anything else, though, is the way in which they go about their business. There’s flash and flair. There’s a welcoming arrogance. Magic once admitted that he and Boston Celtics star Larry Bird saved the NBA when interest in basketball was low in the US. And Mbappe, ahead of PSG’s Champions League game against Barcelona last week, told Mauricio Pochettino that the manager was going to beat the Spanish side for only the second time in the former Spurs man’s career.
Qualities that tend to thread among all the greats — no matter the sport — are in the fabric of these two unicorns. Magic idolised Bill Russell growing up, primarily because of the Boston Celtics legend’s single-minded focus on winning; Mbappe’s hero was Cristiano Ronaldo, who is arguably the most relentless and dedicated winner of his generation in world soccer.
As he backpedalled towards the Nou Camp corner flag, beckoning his Paris Saint-Germain team-mates towards him with arms outstretched and a stoic nod of his head, Kylian Mbappe also seemed to be conducting his own coronation. After completing a spectacular hat-trick against Barcelona, the narrative of a changing of the Ballon d’Or guard would have been compelling enough without a weary and dejected Lionel Messi being present on the same pitch. With him looking on, it felt irresistible.
How strange, then, to take a step back and realise that we are already two-and-a-half years removed from what is likely to be Mbappe’s legacy-defining achievement: a World Cup final triumph — the holy grail that has managed to elude Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo — with France at the first time of asking, sealed with a goal that saw him become the first teenager to score on that grandest of football stages since Pele did it 60 years earlier.
Great talent tends to present itself early, but only a select few obtain the sweetest rewards that greatness can bestow before their primes. Most compete in individual sports where fewer variables can deny them: Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Boris Becker and Rafael Nadal all won grand slam tennis titles before their 20th birthdays, and Roger Federer was 21 when he claimed his first Wimbledon. Tiger Woods was 21 when he got his first green jacket at The Masters. Mike Tyson was 20 when he demolished Trevor Berbick to become the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history, and Muhammad Ali was just 22 when he humiliated Sonny Liston.
Mbappe is enough of a student of sport to know the lofty company he now keeps.
He is particularly passionate about basketball, sitting courtside at Oracle Arena for the decisive Game Six of the 2019 NBA finals between Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors and attending the game staged in Paris between Milwaukee Bucks and Charlotte Hornets the following January. Last month, he partnered with fellow Nike athlete LeBron James for ‘The Chosen 2’, a collaboration that featured bespoke editions of the LeBron 18 shoe and Nike Mercurial football boot intended to highlight their parallel paths to greatness.
The comparison has merit beyond mere marketing: James, like Mbappe, proved himself a physical and technical marvel from day one of his professional career, despite suffocating hype. But in the pantheon of basketball greats, he is not the legend whose style and story resonates most with PSG’s superstar forward.
That man played his last NBA game two years before Mbappe was even born.
That man is Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr.
Magic first became an NBA champion around the same time he could legally drink at 21. Mbappe, similarly, helped France to win the World Cup at the age of 19. Reaching their sport’s pinnacle at such a young age set both men up for careers that would be defined on the quest to do it again, and again, and again. Winning, ultimately, deciding the place of both in the lexicon of greatness.
A flashy set-up man by trade, Magic could cover the gamut on a basketball court. In Game Six of the 1980 NBA Finals, his rookie season, the point guard played center instead in the Los Angeles Lakers’ series-clinching victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, posting 42 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. It’s an achievement still celebrated more than 40 years later. It was an exercise in greatness. A great basketball player was a great basketball player, no matter his position.
Mbappe, too, carries this flexibility. A speedy, powerful and artful No 9 at his best, Mbappe acted as a right winger during his nation’s run for world supremacy in football at Russia 2018. In a position that still allowed the 19-year-old to be expressive and dangerous, he brought his own flavour to the flank, similarly to how Magic was still Magic with his back closer to the basket in that 1980 clincher.
There’s a reason these men can seamlessly navigate their respective mediums of expression. They were born to do this.
Hailing from Lansing in Michigan, where he led Everett High School to its first-ever state championship as a senior, Magic was a prodigy. He earned the nickname “Magic” at 15 because it was hard to believe the things he was doing with the ball. Colleges across the nation lined up for his services. Magic, whose parents both played basketball in their youth, decided on nearby Michigan State University. As a sophomore, in 1979, he led the school to its first NCAA basketball title.
Thirty-plus years later, across the pond in Paris, Mbappe, who, too, came from an athletic background with parents who played football and handball, was subject to a similar courtship at a young age. Europe’s elite football clubs welcomed a teenage Mbappe to their stadia, as all tried to land the services of the French whiz kid. Real Madrid. Chelsea. Bayern Munich. The who’s who of European soccer attempted to get Mbappe under their roof. He eventually chose Monaco, a Ligue 1 club in the south of France with a rich domestic history of their own.
After Michigan State, Magic was the first overall pick in the 1979 NBA Draft. This paired him with all-time great big man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the Lakers and created one of the best one-two punches in league history. Along the same lines, Mbappe, after helping Monaco win the 2016-17 title as a 18-year-old, was handpicked by Paris Saint-Germain to play alongside its newly acquired and further-along superstar Neymar to create one of the most spectacular combos in European club football.
The parallels between Magic and Mbappe run deep. For both, it’s a story of how youth excellence has transformed and carried into exceptionalism at the grandest of stages. What perhaps links them more than anything else, though, is the way in which they go about their business. There’s flash and flair. There’s a welcoming arrogance. Magic once admitted that he and Boston Celtics star Larry Bird saved the NBA when interest in basketball was low in the US. And Mbappe, ahead of PSG’s Champions League game against Barcelona last week, told Mauricio Pochettino that the manager was going to beat the Spanish side for only the second time in the former Spurs man’s career.
Qualities that tend to thread among all the greats — no matter the sport — are in the fabric of these two unicorns. Magic idolised Bill Russell growing up, primarily because of the Boston Celtics legend’s single-minded focus on winning; Mbappe’s hero was Cristiano Ronaldo, who is arguably the most relentless and dedicated winner of his generation in world soccer.
Kunty McPhuck
Scust Szn has Returned
The greats are led by the greats.
Watching Magic and the Lakers was like seeing poetry in motion. There was a free-flowing cadence. There was imagination. There was a point to be made. Anything was possible when the ball was in Magic’s hands. He’d throw it between the legs of his defender. He’d throw it behind his head. He’d look at whatever Hollywood celebrity was in the front row of the Lakers’ home at The Forum and whip a pass to a team-mate. “Showtime” was born when Magic arrived.
The same curiosity and anticipation manifests when the ball is at the feet of Mbappe. There is no greater “Showtime” experience in modern football than to watch him in full flight. His otherworldly speed evokes Usain Bolt in his pomp. He carries a skill of creating possibilities that simply don’t exist in many others. Mbappe is a rare athletic specimen, one you don’t often find on a pitch. Magic, too, was different. There wasn’t blazing speed, and he might not have been able to jump over a dollar bill, but people with his 6ft 9in frame didn’t often carry such elegance and style.
Magic was able to process what was next before others could comprehend what had just happened. His IQ surpassed his God-given abilities. Magic passed guys open when they didn’t know they were open. Mbappe’s speed is his separator, but he would not be such a singularly devastating footballer if his mind wasn’t one step ahead of his blurred legs.
Furthermore, those qualities aside, both men were able to charm with their personalities. Both were strikingly eloquent and personable at a young age, making them instantly marketable. It’s easy to like someone who can kill opponents while still sporting a big smile. People gravitate toward winners, and when those winners reach the mountaintop with flair, it’s a combination that is hard to dismiss.
Magic, despite his dominance, was admired by his fiercest rivals. The relationship between him and Bird is well-documented. Magic would spend the offseason hanging out with Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons. It was tough to not respect someone who won at the highest level, with a style that was universally revered. Mbappe also appears to command universal respect from his peers. It’s hard to ignore his trajectory at this point. Still, as with Magic, there lies a killer persona behind the gorgeous smile.
Perhaps what transpired at the Nou Camp last Tuesday night wasn’t a coronation at all, but merely the fulfilment of a destiny foretold at the last World Cup finals in 2018.
Now 22, Mbappe is signalling that he is ready to assume the mantle of best in the world. Magic arguably had that moment in 1982, bouncing back from an injury-disrupted season and disappointing playoffs to lead the Lakers to the NBA finals against Philadelphia, then putting in that triple-double display in the title-clinching Game Six. The main reason he had to wait until 1987 to be validated with the Most Valuable Player award for a single season was that Bird was ready to assume that mantle, too.
Bird’s role in the Magic story offers a hint as to what Mbappe might need for his own. Their rivalry, deepened by the enmity between the Celtics and the Lakers, defined the NBA for a decade. It also enriched the legacies of both men, their iconic battles becoming folklore and their daily competition elevating the sport as a whole. European football was fortunate enough to enjoy a similar spectacle in the 2010s, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both relentless in their pursuit of records, trophies and unprecedented brilliance.
It’s reasonable to wonder if Messi, for all his genius, would have felt compelled to show it quite so consistently if Ronaldo had not existed, or simply been more willing to accept secondary status. Magic and Bird have spoken at length about how they were driven to scale greater heights by the presence of the other, and Bird’s admission that he checked Magic’s box score first thing every morning lives on as one of modern sport’s more revealing quotes.
Another line this week struck a similar tone. “When I saw Mbappe score that hat-trick yesterday, I got free motivation, so thanks to him,” were the words of Erling Haaland after netting twice in Borussia Dortmund’s impressive 3-2 away win over Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday. The 20-year-old Norway international has 18 goals and two assists in his first 13 appearances in the competition for Dortmund and previous club Red Bull Salzburg. Mbappe has 24 goals and 17 assists in his 41 for Monaco and PSG.
Haaland’s words represent no more than a seed in the ground for another era-defining rivalry, but the other conditions are promising: as well as being the two pre-eminent attacking talents of their generation, both could be on a grander stage sooner or later. PSG will be in a very difficult position if Mbappe decides to enter the final year of his contract this summer, and the terms of Haaland’s deal make it almost inevitable he will leave Dortmund in the summer of 2022 at the latest. When the dust settles, they are likelier to end up in the same league than at the same club.
The one rival Mbappe is certain to face is time. All athletes navigate the shifting balance between waning ability and growing experience over the course of their careers, and the point where the two lines intersect usually constitutes the apex of sporting performance. Barring injury, he is nowhere near that point yet. His otherworldly speed should continue to separate him for several years, opening up possibilities that simply don’t exist for mere mortals.
When it no longer does, the new reality could be jarring — but there’s no reason to think Mbappe would not adapt, as many of the great ones do. Magic gradually learned how to leverage his strength as well as his size. LeBron James added a post-up game and became a master of managing pace of play. Cristiano Ronaldo focused his energy and movement more in the final third of the pitch than ever before. Messi began to prioritise creation over scoring, as well as becoming the most effective walker in the history of football.
Mbappe is still in the early years of his own journey. There should be more league titles, Champions League triumphs, Ballons d’Or and maybe even another World Cup. Our privilege is simply to enjoy the magic on show.
Watching Magic and the Lakers was like seeing poetry in motion. There was a free-flowing cadence. There was imagination. There was a point to be made. Anything was possible when the ball was in Magic’s hands. He’d throw it between the legs of his defender. He’d throw it behind his head. He’d look at whatever Hollywood celebrity was in the front row of the Lakers’ home at The Forum and whip a pass to a team-mate. “Showtime” was born when Magic arrived.
The same curiosity and anticipation manifests when the ball is at the feet of Mbappe. There is no greater “Showtime” experience in modern football than to watch him in full flight. His otherworldly speed evokes Usain Bolt in his pomp. He carries a skill of creating possibilities that simply don’t exist in many others. Mbappe is a rare athletic specimen, one you don’t often find on a pitch. Magic, too, was different. There wasn’t blazing speed, and he might not have been able to jump over a dollar bill, but people with his 6ft 9in frame didn’t often carry such elegance and style.
Magic was able to process what was next before others could comprehend what had just happened. His IQ surpassed his God-given abilities. Magic passed guys open when they didn’t know they were open. Mbappe’s speed is his separator, but he would not be such a singularly devastating footballer if his mind wasn’t one step ahead of his blurred legs.
Furthermore, those qualities aside, both men were able to charm with their personalities. Both were strikingly eloquent and personable at a young age, making them instantly marketable. It’s easy to like someone who can kill opponents while still sporting a big smile. People gravitate toward winners, and when those winners reach the mountaintop with flair, it’s a combination that is hard to dismiss.
Magic, despite his dominance, was admired by his fiercest rivals. The relationship between him and Bird is well-documented. Magic would spend the offseason hanging out with Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons. It was tough to not respect someone who won at the highest level, with a style that was universally revered. Mbappe also appears to command universal respect from his peers. It’s hard to ignore his trajectory at this point. Still, as with Magic, there lies a killer persona behind the gorgeous smile.
Perhaps what transpired at the Nou Camp last Tuesday night wasn’t a coronation at all, but merely the fulfilment of a destiny foretold at the last World Cup finals in 2018.
Now 22, Mbappe is signalling that he is ready to assume the mantle of best in the world. Magic arguably had that moment in 1982, bouncing back from an injury-disrupted season and disappointing playoffs to lead the Lakers to the NBA finals against Philadelphia, then putting in that triple-double display in the title-clinching Game Six. The main reason he had to wait until 1987 to be validated with the Most Valuable Player award for a single season was that Bird was ready to assume that mantle, too.
Bird’s role in the Magic story offers a hint as to what Mbappe might need for his own. Their rivalry, deepened by the enmity between the Celtics and the Lakers, defined the NBA for a decade. It also enriched the legacies of both men, their iconic battles becoming folklore and their daily competition elevating the sport as a whole. European football was fortunate enough to enjoy a similar spectacle in the 2010s, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both relentless in their pursuit of records, trophies and unprecedented brilliance.
It’s reasonable to wonder if Messi, for all his genius, would have felt compelled to show it quite so consistently if Ronaldo had not existed, or simply been more willing to accept secondary status. Magic and Bird have spoken at length about how they were driven to scale greater heights by the presence of the other, and Bird’s admission that he checked Magic’s box score first thing every morning lives on as one of modern sport’s more revealing quotes.
Another line this week struck a similar tone. “When I saw Mbappe score that hat-trick yesterday, I got free motivation, so thanks to him,” were the words of Erling Haaland after netting twice in Borussia Dortmund’s impressive 3-2 away win over Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday. The 20-year-old Norway international has 18 goals and two assists in his first 13 appearances in the competition for Dortmund and previous club Red Bull Salzburg. Mbappe has 24 goals and 17 assists in his 41 for Monaco and PSG.
Haaland’s words represent no more than a seed in the ground for another era-defining rivalry, but the other conditions are promising: as well as being the two pre-eminent attacking talents of their generation, both could be on a grander stage sooner or later. PSG will be in a very difficult position if Mbappe decides to enter the final year of his contract this summer, and the terms of Haaland’s deal make it almost inevitable he will leave Dortmund in the summer of 2022 at the latest. When the dust settles, they are likelier to end up in the same league than at the same club.
The one rival Mbappe is certain to face is time. All athletes navigate the shifting balance between waning ability and growing experience over the course of their careers, and the point where the two lines intersect usually constitutes the apex of sporting performance. Barring injury, he is nowhere near that point yet. His otherworldly speed should continue to separate him for several years, opening up possibilities that simply don’t exist for mere mortals.
When it no longer does, the new reality could be jarring — but there’s no reason to think Mbappe would not adapt, as many of the great ones do. Magic gradually learned how to leverage his strength as well as his size. LeBron James added a post-up game and became a master of managing pace of play. Cristiano Ronaldo focused his energy and movement more in the final third of the pitch than ever before. Messi began to prioritise creation over scoring, as well as becoming the most effective walker in the history of football.
Mbappe is still in the early years of his own journey. There should be more league titles, Champions League triumphs, Ballons d’Or and maybe even another World Cup. Our privilege is simply to enjoy the magic on show.
Article reminds of the "Benzema on the verge of greatness".
Kunty McPhuck
Scust Szn has Returned
Where was that L'EQUIPE?
