Kylian Mbappé | Player Performance Thread

Has Jose ever spent big on a teenager before?

That's why I don't see us being in for Mbappe. (I also hope Woodward doesn't try and force the signing on him because that's where things have gone sour at Jose's previous clubs where he hasn't got what he wanted in the transfer market but that's another subject)
 
Don't think Madrid have had a new shiny toy for a couple of years now so I would expect them to be very interested. They will try to flog James Rodriguez for £50 million to help fund the transfer but I am not sure if anyone will be stupid enough to fall for it.
charlenefan said:
Has Jose ever spent big on a teenager before?

That's why I don't see us being in for Mbappe. (I also hope Woodward doesn't try and force the signing on him because that's where things have gone sour at Jose's previous clubs where he hasn't got what he wanted in the transfer market but that's another subject)
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I don't think Ed has ever done that even with Moyes / LvG so can't see that changing. Clearly Mourinho wanted Pogba and Ed delivered.
 
I'm amazed by how people think it's good to play three strikers upfront.
 
Who would you take, just for contexts sake. An 18 year old Rooney or Mbappe now? The hype around this lad is huge...

Remember anelka when he burst on the scene? He also looked to have limitless potential. An awful lot can happen in a few seasons. Players personal lives, injuries, failure to settle in a new city, system not suiting them the same, team mates with different qualities, manager not liking them etc. It's mad how people want to take a 'punt' at £70 million and up on a player who's just come onto the scene. Football has always been crazy but the money now is just obscene. I don't like it so I choose to not think about it too much. Unless it's Rooney stealing a wage or lingard being on more than Thiago. That's just mental.

It takes a perfect storm for these players to even get into the situation where they can be considered one of the best players around. So much has to go in their favour. Will he dominate the game for the next few years? It's nearly impossible to tell!
 
Ali Dia said:
Who would you take, just for contexts sake. An 18 year old Rooney or Mbappe now? The hype around this lad is huge...

Remember anelka when he burst on the scene? He also looked to have limitless potential. An awful lot can happen in a few seasons. Players personal lives, injuries, failure to settle in a new city, system not suiting them the same, team mates with different qualities, manager not liking them etc. It's mad how people want to take a 'punt' at £70 million and up on a player who's just come onto the scene. Football has always been crazy but the money now is just obscene. I don't like it so I choose to not think about it too much. Unless it's Rooney stealing a wage or lingard being on more than Thiago. That's just mental.

It takes a perfect storm for these players to even get into the situation where they can be considered one of the best players around. So much has to go in their favour. Will he dominate the game for the next few years? It's nearly impossible to tell!
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Very true. Football ability is only one of many aspects of whether or not a player develops into something special.
 
Raoul said:
Very true. Football ability is only one of many aspects of whether or not a player develops into something special.
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I guess we just have to provide the absolute optimum conditions for players to develop that potential and take it from there. Changing managers every 2 years probably isn't going to help that much. I'm probably in the minority here but I think when a young player after one season is commanding 70 million could we not just assume we've kind of missed the boat on it already? It's a huge risk for a player who hasn't even developed yet. You'd have to be absolutely as close to certain that the lad is going up be top 10 player in the world standard for most of his 20s to consider it. He does look very good but I'm not a scout. I thought Embolo looked very special too... the hype that happens nowadays after a good season (Or even a few good games sometimes) is almost unbearable though!

I wouldn't mind signing these types of prospects for half that price a year earlier and sending them out on loan (to Pl teams or teams in their home country or even leave them with the selling club another year etc) half the risk... player still gets to develop in the public eye so it's good for everyone... 70 million is nuts but maybe I just don't understand....

If he's an absolute game changer then sign him up for whatever we can afford I guess...

Edit / I've been saying it the whole time. Sign whoever is discovering these players for Dortmund and Monaco. Now that would be a signing.
 
Ali Dia said:
I guess we just have to provide the absolute optimum conditions for players to develop that potential and take it from there. Changing managers every 2 years probably isn't going to help that much. I'm probably in the minority here but I think when a young player after one season is commanding 70 million could we not just assume we've kind of missed the boat on it already? It's a huge risk for a player who hasn't even developed yet. You'd have to be absolutely as close to certain that the lad is going up be top 10 player in the world standard for most of his 20s to consider it. He does look very good but I'm not a scout. I thought Embolo looked very special too... the hype that happens nowadays after a good season (Or even a few good games sometimes) is almost unbearable though!

I wouldn't mind signing these types of prospects for half that price a year earlier and sending them out on loan (to Pl teams or teams in their home country or even leave them with the selling club another year etc) half the risk... player still gets to develop in the public eye so it's good for everyone... 70 million is nuts but maybe I just don't understand....

If he's an absolute game changer then sign him up for whatever we can afford I guess...

Edit / I've been saying it the whole time. Sign whoever is discovering these players for Dortmund and Monaco. Now that would be a signing.
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Agreed. This is why I would wait to see Mbappe develop another year before considering a galactico like move for him. In either case, he seems keen on Madrid so let's see if Perez makes a move for him. With his idol Ronaldo there, I can't see him going elsewhere.
 
Powderfinger said:
The road to actually becoming the best in the world is cluttered with obstacles and unexpected pitfalls (injury, form, attitude, wrong manager, etc). But I think he is probably the best teenage player since Messi. He doesn't just flash talent. His production is very high and consistent and his game is very well rounded already. Its only one season but he is streets ahead of other teenage players that have been hyped as the next big thing only to quickly fall off.

I think it would be pretty stupid for a club to be willing to pay 90M for Griezmann or Lukaku but not be willing to pay that much for Mbappe.
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Yeah, what separates him from other super talented kids is that he already plays like an experienced player.
 
Raoul said:
Agreed. This is why I would wait to see Mbappe develop another year before considering a galactico like move for him. In either case, he seems keen on Madrid so let's see if Perez makes a move for him. With his idol Ronaldo there, I can't see him going elsewhere.
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I don't want to develop a player to be ready to dominate like Ronaldo and then lose him but if that actually is our place in the food chain then maybe just accept it and try and grab these players as early as possible. get the few good seasons out of them and sell them for a truckload of cash.

It was obvious that dele Ali was going to be a star when he played against us, same with bale, Ramsey was ruined with injuries but he was great for a while too. There is still value out there. Signing young hungry players that look ready to be around the first team straight away. I don't like our business model at the moment. There's so much waste and splashing that kind of money around on a kid after one season seems daft to me. I don't think Madrid are even that daft. Watch us sign him now and everyone going crazy after a few rough weeks that he is crap or he has no end product etc etc football is weird. It can take seconds to decide a game or a league title etc but it takes seasons of first team football and players getting used to each other to create something great. Throwing huge money around at the new thing isn't always the answer.
 
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shaggy said:
Don't think Madrid have had a new shiny toy for a couple of years now so I would expect them to be very interested. They will try to flog James Rodriguez for £50 million to help fund the transfer but I am not sure if anyone will be stupid enough to fall for it.

I don't think Ed has ever done that even with Moyes / LvG so can't see that changing. Clearly Mourinho wanted Pogba and Ed delivered.
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Dunno Shaw and Herrera were club signings (not LVG) and Falcao had the stench of a galatico attempt
 
charlenefan said:
Has Jose ever spent big on a teenager before?

That's why I don't see us being in for Mbappe. (I also hope Woodward doesn't try and force the signing on him because that's where things have gone sour at Jose's previous clubs where he hasn't got what he wanted in the transfer market but that's another subject)
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Surely this 'Mourinho-type' thing is getting out of hand now? Next we'll be asking 'has Mourinho ever signed an 18 year old French striker who is primarily right-footed' before?

I strongly doubt this perceived Jose blueprint is as rigid as everyone seems to make out. He will sign a player if he likes him.
 
Brightonian said:
It helps when the 'three strikers' are up there with the best three strikers ever to play in the same side. It also helps to be playing a lot of your football against Granada, Osasuna and Real Betis.
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Barcelona have probably lost more league games than us is season, or at least as many. The PL teams are not that great either.
 
Get him at the end of chances, and he scores. He will be the best striker in the world very soon. I dont think he is as gifted as Messi or Hazard, but already excellent in what he does. 1 vs 1 with defenders/keepers and decent angle at goal, is a goal for him. Genuinely insane. So Real-bound, it's not even funny.
 
Mciahel Goodman said:
If you watch Monaco, which I know you do, you see Mbappe' starting position is often wide left. It's a pivot with Falcao, but of the two, Mbappe is the more withdrawn.

Rashford is gash out wide, a natural centre forward, whereas Mbappe can do both.
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No, he doesn't start wide left. I watch every Monaco game. It's 2 up front out of the 3 of Falcao, Germain and Mbappé, and sometimes when Jardim wants to defend a lead away from home he takes off Falcao/Germain for Moutinho/Bakayoko and plays with Mbappé up top on his own on the counter-attack.
 
Monaco's VP saying in a interview that Mbappe, Lemar and Silva are all staying at Monaco to cement their positions for the WC in 2018.
 
KM said:
Monaco's VP saying in a interview that Mbappe, Lemar and Silva are all staying at Monaco to cement their positions for the WC in 2018.
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Shame. Hopefully we get Fabinho.
 
KM said:
Monaco's VP saying in a interview that Mbappe, Lemar and Silva are all staying at Monaco to cement their positions for the WC in 2018.
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It's probably for the best, but as soon as he's available we have to be at the top of the queue.
 
kouroux said:
What ? Monaco has mainly played with 2 strikers all season long. A combo of Germain-Falcao-MBappé. He moves around a lot but no way does he play wide left in a 4-3-3 that Monaco almost never plays.
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We'll have to agree to disagree, as he starts wife left quite often.
 
Mciahel Goodman said:
We'll have to agree to disagree, as he starts wife left quite often.
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He really doesn't though. Just because he naturally moves left when playing doesn't mean he is playing as a left winger. It's the same as what Rashford/Martial does.

Thomas Lemar plays left wing for them pretty much every game.
 
KM said:
Monaco's VP saying in a interview that Mbappe, Lemar and Silva are all staying at Monaco to cement their positions for the WC in 2018.
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Smart from the players tbh. Can't deny them spots internationally if they play this way next season.
 
Adam-Utd said:
He really doesn't though. Just because he naturally moves left when playing doesn't mean he is playing as a left winger. It's the same as what Rashford/Martial does.

Thomas Lemar plays left wing for them pretty much every game.
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I never said he played as a left winger, just that his starting position is quite often wide left, which it is.
 
Brightonian said:
It helps when the 'three strikers' are up there with the best three strikers ever to play in the same side. It also helps to be playing a lot of your football against Granada, Osasuna and Real Betis.
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Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo?
 
Mciahel Goodman said:
I never said he played as a left winger, just that his starting position is quite often wide left, which it is.
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It's more often on the right since January, Falcao is the one starting as left striker. But Mbappé did played on the left in multiple cameos during the first part of the season, that's also where he used to play for France youth teams.
 
JPRouve said:
It's more often on the right since January, Falcao is the one starting as left striker. But Mbappé did played on the left in multiple cameos during the first part of the season, that's also where he used to play for France youth teams.
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Perhaps I've confused his early cameos at the start of the season with his position of late. He's an out and out forward in a 442, then? It's just when I've watched him play, even the runs he makes are almost exclusively down the left channel.
 
Mciahel Goodman said:
Perhaps I've confused his early cameos at the start of the season with his position of late. He's an out and out forward in a 442, then? It's just when I've watched him play, even the runs he makes are almost exclusively down the left channel.
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Yeah, at the beginning of the season he was mainly replacing Germain who is normally the right side striker but he would play on the left and Falcao on the right. The other alternative was with Lemar moving inside and Mbappé playing as a left inside forwards or in a 442 diamond with Bernardo Silva as a #10 like against Rennes. But since January he just replaces Germain as the right side striker, his position hasn't changed since the first leg against City.
 
NYAS said:
No, he doesn't start wide left. I watch every Monaco game. It's 2 up front out of the 3 of Falcao, Germain and Mbappé, and sometimes when Jardim wants to defend a lead away from home he takes off Falcao/Germain for Moutinho/Bakayoko and plays with Mbappé up top on his own on the counter-attack.
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Germain is trash.
 
Ali Dia said:
I don't want to develop a player to be ready to dominate like Ronaldo and then lose him but if that actually is our place in the food chain then maybe just accept it and try and grab these players as early as possible. get the few good seasons out of them and sell them for a truckload of cash.

It was obvious that dele Ali was going to be a star when he played against us, same with bale, Ramsey was ruined with injuries but he was great for a while too. There is still value out there. Signing young hungry players that look ready to be around the first team straight away. I don't like our business model at the moment. There's so much waste and splashing that kind of money around on a kid after one season seems daft to me. I don't think Madrid are even that daft. Watch us sign him now and everyone going crazy after a few rough weeks that he is crap or he has no end product etc etc football is weird. It can take seconds to decide a game or a league title etc but it takes seasons of first team football and players getting used to each other to create something great. Throwing huge money around at the new thing isn't always the answer.
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You, sir, are far too sensible for this forum.
 
Rozay said:
Surely this 'Mourinho-type' thing is getting out of hand now? Next we'll be asking 'has Mourinho ever signed an 18 year old French striker who is primarily right-footed' before?

I strongly doubt this perceived Jose blueprint is as rigid as everyone seems to make out. He will sign a player if he likes him.
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It's a fair question, reports seem to suggest Griezmann is our first choice for an attacking player this summer and you have to wonder who plan b, c and d are and how far down that list an Mbappe would be if at all
 
Don't know if this was posted already, but watch his movement in this clip...it's amazing:

 
charlenefan said:
It's a fair question, reports seem to suggest Griezmann is our first choice for an attacking player this summer and you have to wonder who plan b, c and d are and how far down that list an Mbappe would be if at all
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That is a fair question.

What I don't agree so much with is this 'Jose type' thing that I feel is being over pedalled. He's a top football manager. His type is probably good players, who have a good attitude and ethos whom he can trust. I'm sure there will be many variants within that.
 
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