Yes, Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe has been named the most valuable player in the world.
CIES Football Observatory have taken a look at the most valuable players in each of Europe’s top five leagues – Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 and have established Mbappe’s true market value is £226m, slightly more than the amount Paris Saint-Germain paid Barcelona for teammate Neymar in 2017.
Mbappe finishes ahead of Manchester City star Raheem Sterling at £190m and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah at £149m. Fellow Anfield compadre Sadio Mane also finishes in the top five alongside Borussia Dortmund’s young dynamo Jadon Sancho.
Mbappe, 21, is enjoying yet another remarkable season with Paris Saint-Germain, having found the net 18 times in all competitions. Such is this young man’s remarkable football talents, skills and finesse that club giants Liverpool and Real Madrid, among others, are willing to cough up a world-record transfer fee to land him in their nets. Liverpool for one have had him on their radar since he was only 15.
The question on everyone’s mind after the feud between Mbappe and Tuchel is would this spark the former’s exit to another club? At the 5-0 win over Montpellier at the Parc des Princes where, unhappy to be taken off after 69 minutes, Mbappe clashed with his coach Tuchel. Tuchel gave his version of events on Saturday when he said:
“I am the manager. It is me who decides who comes off and comes on. Kylian is very clever, he knows what he has done. He doesn’t like to be subbed off, no player likes it. It doesn’t give a good image but we are not the only club where it happens.” Later, he added: “We play football, not tennis. We have to respect everyone.”
The tension has eased a bit between them since the weekend after their supposed clear-the-air discussion on Sunday at the training ground, according to sources. However it’s been reported that Mbappe didn’t apologise to Tuchel at all in private or in front of the squad, although he did admit that he may have overreacted. Tuchel explanation was simple, that he took his striker off to give Edinson Cavani some game time and also to give Mbappe a rest.
Nevertheless, it’s not the first time the two have clashed.
Mbappe, ranked amongst the world’s top 3 forwards in ESPN’s FC 100, was dropped from the starting XI last season for Le Classique in Marseille. Then again he was unhappy on another occasion to be on the bench for a Champions League group game at Club Brugge earlier in the season, he voiced his open frustration after scoring a hat trick within just 21 minutes of coming on as a second-half substitute. The score was 1-0 prior to Mbappe’s involvement, but PSG ended up the eventual 5-0 winner due largely to Mbappe’s exploits.
He said: “I wanted to show that you cannot not play me.”
From Mbappe’s perspective, he feels he is not getting the treatment that he should be rightfully getting as one of the club’s biggest assets, reportedly complaining that Neymar is never called off and that even Angel Di Maria is substituted less often.
Mbappe has already been offered a new deal from PSG to remain at the club as his existing contract terminates in 2022, with the new deal purportedly making him one of the top earners in world football. Although the club is quietly optimistic, one can’t help but think that the feuds between Mbappe and Tuchel could have an impact on the striker’s thinking in the coming months.
After all, Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane are only a few of the many club managers on the sidelines waiting anxiously to close in on this young star who’s destined to reign in the premium football arenas in the world in the 2020s.