Kylian Mbappe's PSG career should be deemed a failure if he cannot deliver the Champions League
The Frenchman may be the best player in the world, but he's only got once more shot at firing his hometown club to European glory
Funnily enough for such a ridiculously well-paid player, Kylian Mbappe has long felt undervalued, particularly in his native France, yet he's always insisted that he never had an issue with compatriots taking his consistently world-class performances for granted.
"I don't blame them," he told France Football in July of last year. "They saw me grow up, they see me all the time, at Paris Saint-Germain every weekend or in the national team. And I've been scoring a lot for years. So, for people, it becomes normal.
"But I never complained that my performances were trivialised. I myself trivialised what [Lionel] Messi was doing, what Cristiano Ronaldo was doing, what the great players were doing. We are in a consumer society, where 'It's good, but do it again.'
"And the fact that I'm right next door, in Paris... I think playing at PSG doesn't help much because it's a divisive team, a divisive club. So, of course it attracts gossip, but it doesn't bother me because I know what I'm doing and how I do it."
The irony, of course, is that Mbappe has come to personify PSG's divisiveness, a product of the culture of entitlement that pervades Parc des Princes, an increasingly polarising player that many feel creates as many problems as he solves.
Indeed, as Mbappe closes in on a long-mooted move to Real Madrid after what looks like being yet another disappointing Champions League exit, it feels fair to ask whether he proved more trouble than he was worth during his seven years at the Parc des Princes?
All-time leading goalscorer
When Mbappe joined PSG from Monaco for €180 million (£150m/$190m), he said that his objective was to "write history in France, in the capital, in my country, in my city." He's unquestionably realised that aim.
PSG are presently poised to wrap up a fifth Ligue 1 title since Mbappe's arrival, with the France forward also set to finish top of the scorers' chart for the sixth time in seven seasons. In total, he has 251 goals in 301 games, making him the most prolific player in PSG's history. His place in the record books is secure.
And yet Mbappe, just like Neymar and Messi before him, hasn't achieved what he was acquired to do: lead PSG to a first Champions League title.
