Kyllian Mbappé's Erasmus was not just a pastime, although he certainly had a lot of fun, alongside Bernardo Silva, Falcao, and Fabinho. Monaco was the ideal place, as decided by his father, Wilfried Mbappé, for his son to evolve away from the noise of Paris. There would be time to return and leave, in a career that has been perfectly designed from the start, both economically and football-wise. It all began in the Principality at the age of 14.
Facing Monaco will be like opening a photo album for Mbappé. He has done it up to 12 times since leaving the team of his early days, but this time is different. It's in the Champions League, the most coveted tournament that he first eyed when he came of age. Juventus then prevented the final against Zidane's Madrid in Cardiff. Against his alter ego, even if it was on the bench. By then, comparisons were drawing him closer to Thierry Henry, fast, explosive, and a goal scorer, more than to ZZ.
He had debuted at the age of 16 in the first team in 2015, but the season of his breakthrough was 2016/17, where he scored 29 goals and provided 16 assists in 60 matches. Monaco, which had seen glory days in the 60s and 80s, reclaimed the Ligue 1 title after 17 years. Before returning to Paris, Mbappé broke the hegemony of what would be his future club. It was like stealing from the king at the very Palace of Versailles.
The Louis II stadium brought back memories of the Monaco led by Arsène Wenger, with Scifo and Klinsmann, but in a very different key. The Portuguese Leonardo Jardim was much more pragmatic than the romantic Wenger, with a team that did not hesitate to defend deep and exploit counterattacks, spaces from the wings. In short, a style of play tailored to Mbappé.
However, one match marked the team's leap in quality. It was in the Champions League round of 16 against Pep Guardiola's City. After losing 5-3 in Manchester, Mbappé's team turned it around in the return leg. The Frenchman scored a goal in each of the matches. He did the same in the quarter-finals, with a brace against Borussia Dortmund. The experience of Juventus halted a pending dream before his move to PSG, where frustrations in the major tournament piled up.
It is impossible to know what would have happened if back in 2017, Mbappé's father, who was guiding his son's career in sports, had chosen Real Madrid instead of the Parisian club. Since then, the Real Madrid team has won three Champions League titles, one under Zinedine Zidane and two under Carlo Ancelotti.
Florentino Pérez's club was in the running when Mbappé left Monaco, but Mbappé's first destination was money, during the time of Qatar's major investments in football, with the 2022 World Cup on the horizon. A ¤180 million signing, camouflaged in the first year as a loan to avoid breaching UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, ended with the young Mbappé in Paris. Neither Real Madrid was willing to match such a figure for the Frenchman nor were they prepared to pay the salary that awaited him at Parc des Princes.
The impression is that the player no longer asks himself that question, or at least disguises it. He appeared before the media before facing his former team today, not to talk about Monaco, but to rally around the crisis. He defended Vinicius and acknowledged the Bernabéu crowd's right to boo the players, something he also claimed to have done as a child, as a fan. But he made a request: "Boo all of us, not just Vini."
The Frenchman did not speak as a former Monaco player, despite the opportunity, but as a mature footballer. A voice that carries much more weight than Álvaro Arbeloa, a circumstantial coach, and sounds independent. As evidenced by what he said about Xabi Alonso: "He is going to be a great coach. I have a spectacular relationship with him and wish him the best. He knows a lot about modern football, it's a club decision that must be respected." He did not say whether he agreed. He doesn't need to, he is no longer on Erasmus.