Kylian Mbappé Lottin cannot replace Alexis Sanchez? By Sylvester Kwentua
Arsenal fans seem to be excited about the possibility of us buying Kylian Mbappe Lottin, the 18 years old French born striker who plays for F.C Monaco! While this may be seen as good news to the ear, considering the fact that this season has been an explosive season for him in the French league, I strongly feel we need to curb our emotions before it leads to disappointment.
Mbappé started out at AS Bondy, where his father Wilfried was a coach. A stint at the famous Clairefontaine academy followed, before a host of impressive performances had numerous French clubs attempting to sign him. Mbappé ultimately settled on AS Monaco. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 2 December 2015 in a 1-1 home draw against Caen, replacing Fábio Coentrão after 88 minutes, becoming Monaco’s youngest-ever senior debutant aged 16 years 347 days and breaking Thierry Henry’s record set 21 years ago. On 20 February 2016, Mbappé scored his first senior goal for the club, a stoppage-time goal in a home Ligue 1 3–1 win over Troyes; at the age of 17 years and 62 days, he became the youngest goalscorer in Monaco’s history — displacing Thierry Henry in the process. On 6 March 2016, Mbappé signed his first professional contract, a three-year deal, tying him Monaco until June 2019. This season, he has contributed 11 goals in 24 appearances! Impressive you will say.
At the age of 18, being compared to football greats like Thierry Henry can place a lot of expectations on a young player. This guy is still young and any team buying him, should do so with the intention of working on him, while he gradually becomes the great player he is destined to be. When I hear some Arsenal fans saying Sanchez can leave as long as we have Mbappe, we are fine! I laugh because to be honest, they are far from the truth. I am not going to come here and appeal to Sanchez to stay because I believe his mind is made up already on where he wishes to play next season, but if we are to buy any player that will make an instant impact on the team so that we don’t feel Sanchez’s absence, definitely it should not be Mbappe. This chap is still young and despite the form he is at Monaco right now, I still believe he is not totally ripe for the premiership; the premiership is a different ball game entirely and even the best players; even the matured players, find it hard coping in the premiership.
I will be glad to see Mbappe in Arsenal but not as a replacement for Sanchez! We don’t want another talent to come to our club and fail to shine because of the weight of expectations on his head, or do we?
Sylvester