'Inspiring. Gritty. Triumphant. Laurens gives us a front row seat to Mbappe's epic rise to the top of the football world.'Jeff Benedict
'The authoritative read on one of football's biggest stars' Sam Wallace
'An illuminating read about one of the twenty-first century's main characters' Joey D'Urso
'The story of Mbappé deserved to be told by someone with a sharp mind and pen, who understands Kylian and his background. Julien ticks all the boxes' Guillem Balague
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'Only the second teenager to have scored a goal in a World Cup Final! Welcome to the club - it's great to have some company!' Pelé
This was the praise lauded upon Kylian Mbappé who, at just 19 years of age, led France to triumph at the 2018 World Cup. As golden confetti rained down, millions across the globe watched as the young man kissed the iconic trophy; the heir to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best footballer in the world had announced himself. It was his crowning moment.
In Kylian Mbappé: The Definitive Biography, Julien Laurens, the world's leading French football journalist, paints a vivid portrait of Mbappé's meteoric rise to global stardom. After a decade covering Kylian's career, Julien has had unprecedented access to the player's friends, coaches and teammates past and present. Exploring Mbappé's humble upbringing in the suburbs of Paris and schooling at the famed Clairefontaine academy, his peerless rise with AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as his dream move to Real Madrid where his career has reached new heights, this extensive biography crafts an intimate account of Kylian's life.
Julien takes us into the inner workings of Mbappé's psyche, as we witness how becoming a world superstar at just 19 affected the young Parisian. From the complex relationship he had with his boyhood club and its hierarchy to valiantly losing against Lionel Messi's Argentina in the 2022 World Cup Final, and becoming the new face of Real Madrid's galácticos, Julien shows us how the Mbappé that stars for club and country today is unrecognisable from the one who won the World Cup with France in 2018.
Julien Laurens is one of the UK's leading football journalists, and widely viewed as the authority on French football. He is ESPN's Football Correspondent, a pundit for BBC Sport and TNT, co-host of the Gab and Juls Show, and a presenter on several top football podcasts. He was the lead commentator on the BBC's 2024 documentary on Kylian Mbappé and its six-part BBC Sounds podcast.
