Kylian Mbappé

Mbappé made his first team debut on 2 December 2015 in a 1–1 Ligue 1 home draw against SM Caen, replacing Fábio Coentrão after 88 minutes. He therefore became Monaco's youngest-ever first-team player aged 16 years and 347 days, breaking Thierry Henry's record set 21 years previously.

On 20 February 2016, Mbappé scored his first goal for the club's first team, 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 first team goalscorer in Monaco's history—once again displacing Henry in the process. On 6 March 2016, Mbappé signed his first professional contract, a three-year deal, tying him to Monaco until June 2019. In an interview with CNN, Vadim Vasilyev, AS Monaco's vice-president, who played a key role in Mbappé signing his first professional contract with the Ligue 1 club, stated that he knew early on that Mbappé was a "phenomenon."

Mbappé scored the first hat-trick of his first team career on 14 December 2016 in the 7–0 rout of Stade Rennais in the Coupe de la Ligue round of 16 at the Stade Louis II – the first hat-trick scored by any Monaco player in the competition since Sonny Anderson in 1997.

On 11 February 2017, Mbappé scored the first Ligue 1 hat-trick of his career in the 5–0 home win over Metz; at 18 years and two months he became the youngest player to score a Ligue 1 hat-trick since Jérémy Ménez did it for FC Sochaux-Montbéliard back in 2005.

On 31 August 2017, Paris Saint-Germain announced the signing of Mbappé from Monaco on loan. The fee required for a subsequent full transfer was set at a rumoured €145 million plus €35 million in add-ons, making him the most expensive teenager ever, the most expensive transfer ever within a domestic league, and potentially the second most expensive player ever, behind teammate Neymar. He was handed the number 29 shirt upon arrival in the French capital.

Mbappé was called up to the senior France squad for the first time to face Luxembourg and Spain in March 2017. He made his debut on 25 March against the former side, coming on for Dimitri Payet in the 78th minute of a 3–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification away win. In doing so, he became the second youngest player ever (only behind Maryan Wisniewski) to feature for France at 18 years, three months and five days old. On 31 August 2017, Mbappé scored his first senior international goal in a 2018 World Cup qualification match against the Netherlands. He scored twice against Russia in a friendly in March 2018.

In addition to his technical skills, Mbappé is also highly regarded for his outstanding pace and close ball control when dribbling at speed, as well as his excellent movement, tactical intelligence, and ability to beat the defensive line by making attacking runs into space both on and off the ball; his ability to time his runs enables him to stretch opposing defences, and also make him a dangerous offensive threat on counter-attacks. In April 2017, former France international Nicolas Anelka said that Mbappé's ability to run at defences reminded him of Ronaldo of the 1996 Olympics and that Mbappé had the characteristics of a world-class player. Mbappé was named the fastest player in the world in a ranking by French newspaper Le Figaro. When Stefan de Vrij, central defender for Inter Milan and the Netherlands, was asked of his toughest opponent, he placed Mbappé ahead of anyone else, including Mbappé's childhood idol Cristiano Ronaldo. In 2018, Mbappé was considered the world's most expensive player from a transfer value perspective by the CIES.

Mbappé has a sponsorship deal with sportswear and equipment supplier Nike. In 2017, his prodigious talent saw Nike launch his own personalised football boots at age 18, the Kylian Mbappé Nike Hypervenom 3. In 2018, he unveiled the Nike Mercurial Superfly VI boots which were inspired by the R9 Mercurial boots of former Brazilian striker Ronaldo. In 2018, Swiss watchmaker Hublot signed Mbappé as a global ambassador.

Mbappé was born in Paris and was raised in Bondy, Seine-Saint-Denis, a commune 10.9 km (6.8 mi) from the centre of Paris. His father, Wilfried, is from Cameroon, and, as well as being Mbappé's agent, is a football coach, while his mother, Fayza Lamari, is of Algerian (Kabyle) origin and is a former handball player. He has a younger brother, Ethan, who played for PSG's under-12 squad in 2018. Mbappé's adoptive brother, Jirès Kembo Ekoko, is also a professional football player. Growing up, his idol was Cristiano Ronaldo, a player he looked to emulate.

He scored on his debut on 8 September in a 5–1 Ligue 1 win at Metz, in which Benoît Assou-Ekotto was sent off for fouling him. Four days later, Mbappé recorded his first European goal for Les Parisiens in a 5–0 UEFA Champions League group stage away defeat of Celtic. He starred in PSG's 3–0 victory over Bayern Munich in the second group game of the Champions League, setting up goals for Edinson Cavani and Neymar, the latter seeing him taking out a defender with a feint by rolling the ball under his foot. On 6 December, Mbappé scored his 10th Champions League goal in a 3–1 defeat to Bayern Munich and became the youngest player to reach that mark at the age of 18 years and 11 months. Having won his first league title with the club, on 8 May 2018, Mbappé played as PSG won 2–0 against Les Herbiers VF to clinch the 2017–18 Coupe de France.

In July 2018, Mbappé was given the number 7 jersey for the upcoming season with PSG, taking up the squad number vacated by Lucas Moura. Sporting the hashtag #K7LIAN, Mbappé stated, "I keep trying to progress on the pitch and I think that, for me, it was the right time to change number. It is something of an affirmation. The No. 7 shirt is a legendary one and many greats have worn it. I hope that I will be able to do this number justice on the pitch."

On 17 May 2018, Mbappé was called up to the France squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. On 21 June 2018, he scored his first World Cup goal in France's 1–0 Group C win over Peru. This made him the youngest French goalscorer in World Cup history at age 19. On 30 June 2018, he was named man of the match in a 4–3 win over Argentina, scoring twice and suffering a foul in the box which resulted in Antoine Griezmann opening the score from a penalty kick. Mbappé was the second teenager to score two goals in a World Cup match after Pelé in 1958. In a post-match press conference, Mbappé stated: "It's flattering to be the second one after Pelé but let's put things into context – Pelé is in another category."

On 15 July, Mbappé scored with a 25-yard strike against Croatia in the 2018 World Cup Final, with France winning 4–2. He became the second teenager, after Pelé, to score in a World Cup Final, and with four goals in the tournament he received the FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award. Pelé congratulated him on social media, and stated "welcome to the club".

In a 2018 interview with Time, Mbappé spoke about the sacrifices he made as a teenager to focus on his football development: "I did not have the moments of so-called normal people during adolescence, like going out with friends, enjoying good times." But despite missing out on a "normal" life, Mbappé states he is "living the life he always dreamed of". Just over four years after making his professional debut he has over 42 million Instagram followers. While he admits his "life has been totally turned upside down" since he first entered the spotlight, he says he is "happy".

On 22 February 2018, Mbappé was joined by two of Africa's greatest strikers, former A.C. Milan forward and current Liberia President George Weah, and former Chelsea and Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba, in a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the Élysée Palace in Paris that focused on a sports development project in Africa. Mbappé stated that the development of African sport is important to him due to his parents' African origins.

On 19 January 2019, Mbappé was one of two players (the other being Cavani) to score a hat-trick in a 9–0 win over Guingamp, breaking a record PSG set the previous season. On 2 March, he scored twice in a 2–1 away win over Caen; his second goal of the match, which came from a penalty, was his 50th for the club. On 12 March 2019, he scored the 2nd goal in a 0–4 away win against Dijon FCO in Ligue 1. PSG finished the season as Ligue 1 champions, with Mbappé winning the Player of the Year award, while also finishing the season as the top goalscorer with 33 goals.

On 11 June 2019, Mbappé scored his 100th career goal in a 4–0 away win over Andorra in Euro 2020 qualifying.

On 28 January 2019, Mbappé donated $34,000 (around £26,000) to a crowdfunding campaign to finance a private search mission to find football player Emiliano Sala, whose light aircraft had gone missing over the English Channel a week earlier. Later, on 10 February 2019, Mbappé donated a further £27,000 to the GoFundMe campaign created to fund the search for the plane's still-missing pilot, David Ibbotson.

On 1 May 2020, PSG were crowned Ligue 1 champions after the season had been called off amid the COVID-19 pandemic; at the time of the League's premature suspension, PSG were in first place, with a twelve–point lead over second–placed Marseille. Mbappé finished the 2019–20 season as joint-top scorer in Ligue 1 with 18 goals, along with Monaco's Wissam Ben Yedder. However, Mbappé was assigned the title of top scorer due to his superior goals per game ratio. On 24 July, in the 2020 Coupe de France Final against Saint-Étienne, Mbappé was forced off after sustaining an injury following a challenge from Loïc Perrin, who was sent off; PSG won the match 1–0, although Mbappé was ruled out of the 2020 Coupe de la Ligue Final, which PSG went on to win, completing a domestic treble. He returned to action in the Champions League quarter-final against Atalanta on 12 August, coming on a substitute, and assisting Choupo-Moting's match–winning goal in injury time. PSG eventually lost out in the Champions League final 1–0 to Bayern Munich on 23 August.

Mbappé missed the first three matches of the season, against Lens, Marseille, and Metz, due to having contracted COVID-19 while playing with France. He returned to play on 20 September 2020 in a 0–3 away win against Nice, and scored a goal from a penalty. On 28 October 2020, Mbappé recorded two assists, both for Moise Kean, in a UEFA Champions League match against İstanbul Başakşehir that ended as a 0–2 victory for PSG. In doing so, he became the player to have made the most assists in the UCL since the beginning of the 2017–18 edition, his tally adding up to 14 assists. On 31 October 2020, Mbappé suffered a hamstring injury in a match against Nantes; the injury was described as a "slight knock."

On 5 September 2020, Mbappé scored the only goal for France in a 1–0 UEFA Nations League win against Sweden. However, two days after the game, he tested positive for COVID-19. He made his return to play for France in a 7–1 victory against Ukraine on 7 October 2020, a match in which he scored a goal and assisted another. One week later, he scored the match-winning goal in a 1–2 win against Croatia.

Neymar and fellow PSG stars wish Kylian Mbappe a happy 20th birthday

Having accomplished so much already, it's difficult to comprehend that Kylian Mbappe has only just got out of his teens – he celebrated his 20th birthday on Thursday.