{"id":3727,"date":"2017-03-14T16:49:18","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T20:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/?p=3727"},"modified":"2017-03-14T16:51:30","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T20:51:30","slug":"kylian-mbappe-monaco-rising-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2017\/03\/14\/kylian-mbappe-monaco-rising-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Kylian Mbappe: Monaco&#8217;s Rising Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Talent and potential come about often in European football, with clubs producing quality players throughout various academies and youth systems. But few have drawn the attention and desire quite like AS Monaco forward Kylian Mbappe Lottin.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Kylian Mbappe: Monaco&#8217;s Rising Star<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The 18-year-old has been a major contributor to the principality-based side\u2019s rise to the top of Ligue 1 during the current term and is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2017\/mar\/07\/football-transfer-rumour-mill-kylian-mbappe-manchester-united\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">subject of constant transfer rumours ahead of the summer period<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Working his way through AS Bondy and the fabled Clairefontaine, Mbappe signed with Monaco in 2015 and made his Ligue 1 debut soon after in December. Possessing incredible pace and superb goal-scoring instincts, the youngster has quickly becoming one of the most exciting recent prospects in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>The 2016-17 season has seen Mbappe begin to reach new heights, as his production for Les Rouges et Blancs becomes more prominent. The striker has scored ten goals and added five assists for Monaco in league play this year.<\/p>\n<p>Manager Leonardo Jardim\u2019s side has brought an attacking flair that has been the talk of the French top flight this campaign, netting an astounding 84 goals in 29 league matches thus far. A strong showing in the UEFA Champions League has seen Mbappe shine as well, with Monaco looking for positive play in the second leg of their Round of 16 encounter with Manchester City Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Pace and skill<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Monaco\u2019s line-up features a wealth of quality players, especially in the attack. Valere Germain, Bernardo Silva and an in-form Radamel Falcao have all played a part in leaving opposing defences in shambles this year.<\/p>\n<p>But even with so many other threats around him on the pitch, Kylian Mbappe has managed to stand out in a major way.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3tXwxv5P5zA&#038;t=487s<\/p>\n<p>Able to take on defenders all on his own and demonstrating accurate passing when needed, the French international would be able to help improve nearly any attacking front.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Youth and overall development<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The transfer market is where football clubs look to add talent for the present and for the future. At such a young age, Mbappe\u2019s potential appears to have no limit at this point in time.<\/p>\n<p>Still developing his game in various aspects, the forward has not seemed out of place even in the most prestigious of competitions. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RX89l2VXdAY&amp;t=14s\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mbappe\u2019s play against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium last month<\/a> was memorable despite the 5-3 loss for Monaco.<\/p>\n<p>With an ability to play in various positions along the front-line, Mbappe\u2019s future development from such a young age is part of what makes his future so bright.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The next Thierry Henry?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Praise can come in many forms for a young footballer, but being compared to the game\u2019s legends are another matter altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal manager <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espnfc.us\/story\/3052632\/arsenals-arsene-wenger-tracking-monacos-kylian-mbappe-and-backs-thierry-henry-comparisons\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Arsene Wenger stated earlier this year that Mbappe has \u201csimilar qualities\u201d to Thierry Henry<\/a>, certainly strong words from the Gunners boss. While he clearly is not at that type of level yet, comparisons such as this display what others see in the young prodigy.<\/p>\n<p>Monaco still have much work to do this season if they are to capture a Ligue 1 title and advance in the UEFA Champions League. But efforts to keep Kylian Mbappe at the Stade Louis II may be the most difficult task of all.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/653282514\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin: 0px; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; display: inline-block; position: absolute;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/653282514?et=_WhVPQKaTB1b3KMaz19BtA&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=J6qp6wdquEZjgk7wAYCkqdnIR8EZ-CGzTk8q7HY0Edc=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Talent and potential come about often in European football, with clubs producing quality players throughout various academies and youth systems. But few have drawn the attention and desire quite like AS Monaco forward Kylian Mbappe Lottin. Kylian Mbappe: Monaco&#8217;s Rising Star The 18-year-old has been a major contributor to the principality-based side\u2019s rise to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1327,"featured_media":3728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[32738,88,260,963,86,961,122,100,964,962],"class_list":["post-3727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-ligue-1","tag-arsenal-fixtures","tag-arsene-wenger","tag-as-monaco","tag-bernardo-silva","tag-champions-league","tag-kylian-mbappe","tag-ligue-1","tag-manchester-city","tag-radamel-falcao","tag-valere-germain"],"modified_by":"Roy Emanuel, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}