Kylian Mbappe Will Never Achieve True Greatness Staying In France

On Saturday night, ahead of Paris-Saint German’s final game of the season the club’s chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi announced that Kylian Mbappe had signed a new contract to stay for three more years until 2025.

The pair stood on a stage on the pitch at the Parc de Princes as Al-Khelaifi held a microphone and informed the club’s ecstatic supporters, before passing it to Mbappe, who told them, “I am very happy to continue the adventure. I wanted to stay here in France, and in Paris; I have always said Paris is my house. I want to continue to win trophies for you.”

Against a backdrop of fireworks Al-Khelaifi and Mbappe then held up a Paris Saint-Germain shirt with “Mbappe 2025” on the back.

In the game that followed Mbappe scored a hat-trick against relegated Metz as Paris Saint-Germain won 5-0 and finished the season as champions.

This was not a scene Al-Khelaifi and the Paris fans thought they would see as it had long been expected Mbappe would join Real Madrid this summer.

Mbappe had nearly moved to Spain in the summer of 2021, but Paris Saint-Germain turned down a bid worth €200 million and forced him to see out the final year of his contract, and use the time to persuade him to sign a new one.

The French international had held positive talks with the Spanish champions in recent months. They had an agreement in place, and were getting ready to welcome him.

But on Friday Mbappe phoned the Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and informed him he would be staying in Paris after all.

What changed his mind? In short, Paris Saint-Germain have agreed to pay him €40 million a year, and a signing bonus worth €140 million.

It has also been reported the club have agreed to consult him on many aspects of their business, and make him one of their most powerful figures. Their sporting director Leonardo is leaving, and it is expected their manager Mauricio Pochettino will also be leaving this summer.

At the age of 23, Mbappe might now be more wealthy and powerful than ever, but he will never achieve true sporting greatness while he remains in France.

France’s Ligue 1 is clearly an uncompetitive league, dominated by Paris Saint-Germain, who have won 8 of the last 10 league titles by an average margin of 15 points.

This year’s title was another uninteresting stroll, which they won by 17 points over second-placed Marseille.

Since moving to Paris in the summer of 2017 Mbappe has won four French titles, but each one was a rather mundane, and unimpressive achievement.

These titles were all forgone conclusions, stripped of any real challenge or intrigue, and it has to be asked why Mbappe wants more of that?

The Champions League is the trophy Mbappe and Paris Saint-Germain want most of all, but despite all their wealth, they are still waiting to win it for the first time.

To be really tested; to really prove he is the best player in the world, Mbappe needed to make the step to a more competitive league this summer.

He should have learned from the experience of his team-mate Neymar, who has seen his status diminished, not enhanced, by moving from Spain to France.

In the modern era, France’s best players have always had to move away to prove their greatness, and whether they could become the best in the world.

In 1982, Michel Platini swapped Saint-Etienne for Juventus, where he won two Serie A titles, when it was the strongest league in the world, and the Champions League. He was also recognised as the best in the world, winning the Ballon d’Or three times.

In the next decade, Zinedine Zidane was good at Bordeaux, but he also needed to move, to Juventus and Real Madrid to prove his greatness, where he won three domestic titles, the Champions League, and the Ballon d’Or in 1998.

Thierry Henry became the best player in the world, not for what he did in France with Monaco, but when he tested himself in the Premier League with Arsenal, winning the title there twice, before moving to Barcelona, where he won two La Liga titles and the Champions League.

Ligue 1 is currently ranked the fifth strongest league in Europe by UEFA, and the last time they provided either a Champions League or Ballon d’Or winner (over the course of a full season) was long before Mbappe was even born, with Marseille in 1993, and Jean-Pierre Papin in 1991.

It might seem old fashioned that Mbappe has to move to Spain or England to prove himself, but Ligue 1 simply does not have the quality to test him.

For the next three years, no matter what Mbappe achieves in France, it will all continue to feel hollow.

A player’s greatness is only ever really revealed when they take on other great players, and staying in France Mbappe simply won’t be doing that on a weekly basis.