Kylian Mbappe is chasing history.
It has been that way ever since his emergence as an otherworldly talent a decade ago, but this summer the pressures of legacy and status are at stake.
He is no longer the carefree 19-year-old who blitzed Argentina in the quarter-final in 2018, his debut appearance at a World Cup. He is the 27-year-old captain — who is one behind Olivier Giroud in the all-time top scorer charts for France — of arguably the most stacked national team frontline ever assembled. One that has won the World Cup and the Nations League but has failed to reach the final of the European Championship and therefore deemed to have underdelivered when it comes to trophy count.
The same cannot be said for Mbappe’s individual contributions but, given the narrative that has played out at club level since he left PSG for Real Madrid in 2024, there is a tension growing between his individual accolades and lack of team silverware.
When Mbappe emerged at Monaco in 2016, overtaking Thierry Henry as the club’s youngest ever player, he inspired the underdogs to a Ligue 1 title over the might of PSG.
He carried that effervescence into his debut World Cup in 2018, becoming only the second teenager to score in a final. The other man? Pele, in 1958.
“It’s flattering to be the second one after Pele but let’s put things into context – Pele is in another category,” he said at the time.
For how long will they remain in separate conversations? As soon as his blistering pace and goalcoring announced itself in Russia, the silhouette was created for him, ready to be stepped into: the 21st century Pele.
The World Cup has inspired him. Four goals in 2018 were backed up with another eight in 2022, which won him the Golden Boot. He became the second man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final after Geoff Hurst in 1966 and only the fifth player to score in two World Cup finals after Vava, Paul Breitner, Zinedine Zidane and… Pele.
He has an identical record to Pele of 12 goals in 14 games. His hat-trick in the penalty shoot-out loss to Argentina in the final saw him move ahead of the Brazilian for the most World Cup goals scored before the age of 24.
It is conceivable, perhaps even likely, that he will become the outright record scorer in the tournament’s history come the end of the summer. Lionel Messi, one ahead on 13 goals having played at two more editions, is the only active player above him. Countryman Just Fontaine (13), Gerd Muller (14), the Brazilian Ronaldo (15) and Miroslav Klose (16) are the only players standing between him and individual supremacy.
For all the greatness that will bestow on him, what will it mean if France are not victorious?
Mbappe has won 13 major honours in his club career but 11 of those were league titles and domestic cups with PSG. Rightly or wrongly, given their overwhelming financial advantage in France, those trophies are viewed as relative gimmes.
The Champions League is what counted for the Qatari owners. The closest they came with Mbappe was in 2019-20 when they finished runners-up. Even with Lionel Messi and Neymar alongside him, they were a lopsided team short on endeavour and cohesion.
His transfer to Real Madrid in 2024, reigning Spanish and European champions under Carlo Ancelotti, was supposed to bring him the trophy he craved. It placed him as the lead Galactico of a new era, a new dominant team.
Mbappe scored 44 goals in his debut season and 42 goals in 43 games in 2025-26. Elite numbers, yet Mbappe has endured two trophyless seasons in Madrid — the UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup are not major trophies — and the dressing room is in turmoil with the France striker the subject of fan jeers.
Where Kylian Mbappe took his shots
Average
shot distance
16.2 yards
La Liga, 2025-26
What makes the optics worse is that his barren spell has coincided with the cultural change at PSG, swapping superstars for collegiate work ethic, that has taken them to back-to-back Champions League titles.
It has left Mbappe with a CV light on the big trophies expected of a generational talent, with doubt as to whether he should be viewed through the prism of his own statistics or the honours list of the teams he is part of.
In February, France manager Didier Deschamps defended Mbappe’s perceived lack of interest in running for the benefit of the team.
“If you want him to cover 11km per match, don’t bother. He won’t,” he said.
“You may like Kylian, you may not, but the younger players adore him. You have this image of him as a selfish, individualistic guy, and while a striker certainly has to be selfish too, I can assure you that within the French national team, he acts like a true captain.”
PSG manager Luis Enrique attempted to cajole a more collective outlook from Mbappe in his first season. In a clip that went viral, the Spaniard delivers an impassioned one-on-one speech to Mbappe as he shows him video examples of the importance of pressing as a team.
“I hear you like Michael Jordan,” he says. “Jordan would grab his team-mates by the balls and start defending them like a son of a bitch. Why? To be a leader.
“Because you think that you only have to score goals. Of course, you are a world phenomenon, a top-class player, no doubt about it. But that doesn’t work for me. A true leader is when you can’t help us with goals. The day you don’t attack, I want you to be the best player in history at defending. That’s a leader. That is Michael Jordan.”
Kylian Mbappe’s playing style
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Goal threat
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Box threat
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Shot frequency
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Creative threat
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On-ball involvement
Compared to peers across Europe | La Liga, 2025-26
Metrics derived from The Athletic’s player roles model.
A similar dilemma faces Deschamps and France at this World Cup. In addition to Mbappe, there is Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola, Rayan Cherki, Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani.
Fitting in three or four of those players while maintaining a balanced team is the challenge and will surely require sacrifice from star players to make it work.
Mbappe will become only the second player to play in three World Cup finals if he leads France there in North America.
Brazil’s Cafu remains the only player to have achieved that feat, having featured in 1994, 1998 and 2002. He was 32. Mbappe will be 27.
Now is the time for him to convert accolades into another major trophy, a second World Cup that would elevate him into the conversation of all-time greats.
