French football sensation Kylian Mbappe has revealed that he played one game for Chelsea as a youth and had a “great” time in England.
Mbappe is regarded as one of the world’s top young footballers and played a crucial role for Monaco when they shockingly went on to win Ligue 1 and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League last season. All in all, he scored 26 goals from 44 games in all competitions for the club last term and his performances were sufficient to earn him a move to French giants PSG, for whom he has so far scored 16 goals for from 31 games this season.
The 19-year-old has also been tipped to be a star for the French national team at the World Cup in Russia this summer, where Les Blues are among the pre-tournament favourites. But his career could well have taken a different path had he joined Chelsea, after having a trial with the English giants eight years ago when he was starting out in the game.
During his only game for the Blues, which came during an under-12’s match against Charlton Athletic, Mbappe featured alongside the likes of Tammy Abraham and Jeremie Boga and he also had the opportunity to meet with first-team stars at the time, including Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda.
“I was still young back then, maybe 10 or 11. I went to London and spent just under a week over there,” Mbappe told FourFourTwo. “I trained at Chelsea and we played a friendly match against Charlton Athletic.
“We won 6-0 or 7-0. I played up front, but I don’t think I scored. It was great – it was my first experience abroad and a chance for me to see what the game was like in England.”
