Opinion
What next for Kylian Mbappé? The world’s best player continues to struggle for success
©TM/IMAGO
Kylian Mbappé was awarded a trophy at the 2026 World Cup final on Sunday, but the French striker was nowhere to be seen. Crowned with the cherished Golden Boot award after scoring more goals than Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland & Co., but rather than be present to watch Spain beat Argentina to become the World champions, Mbappé was most likely already on a short break before pre-season training with Real Madrid. The trophy will eventually find its way to the striker, but it’s unlikely that he’ll spend too much time cherishing it or looking back fondly on the tournament.
Stats
K. Mbappé
Centre-Forward
8
10
4
Indeed, this World Cup was supposed to be the perfect opportunity for what many consider to be the best player in the world to bounce back. After a fruitless season with Madrid, Mbappé was set to lead the line for a French side that would brush aside all others on their way to only their third World Cup title. Instead, “Les Bleus” were confidently beaten by Spain in the semi-finals, when the eventual winners won 2-0 in Arlington. Despite huffing and puffing for much of the match, Mbappé was powerless before the collective brilliance of Luis de la Fuente’s side.
A new season, but same old problems
For most players, a new season offers a sense of renewal and the hope of challenging for titles and trophies. But for a player of Mbappé’s talent and reputation, each new season instead presents a tricky test: how much success does the French striker need to obtain to maintain his status as the world’s best player? That is often an impossible question to answer with any great accuracy. However, what’s most worrying for the 27-year-old striker is that his route to success seems to be getting harder and harder to plot and follow.
Player Comparison
Kylian Mbappé
Lamine Yamal
Real Madrid
FC Barcelona
€180.00m
Market Value
€200.00m
27
Age
19
Centre-Forward
Position
Right Winger
30/06/2029
Contract until
30/06/2031
Full Player Comparison
This is evident after a cursory glance at the Madrid squad Mbappé will return to after his pre-season break. While Barcelona can call upon several World Cup winners, such as Pau Cubarsí, Pedri and Lamine Yamal, Mbappé’s teammates will be hoping new signing and World champion Marc Cucurella’s success can rub off on the rest of the squad. Whether it be Arda Güler, Federico Valverde, Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham or even Trent Alexander-Arnold (who never received a call-up to the tournament for England), the Real Madrid starting XI is now a who’s who of big-name stars that failed to succeed in North America.
Of course, “Los Blancos” didn’t need a World Cup to highlight the tepid form of their star-studded squad. In taking the somewhat drastic decision to re-hire José Mourinho as their head coach for the forthcoming season, the LaLiga giants are hoping that the famed disciplinarian will be able to straighten out the issues that have seen Madrid settle for second place in the last two league campaigns, while failing to get beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League since winning it in 2024. That is certainly a bold move, since Mourinho hasn’t won a league title in Europe’s top leagues since 2015 or the Champions League since 2010.
This, undoubtedly, is something that Mbappé will be acutely aware of. Remarkably, since joining Madrid two seasons ago, the French striker has little more than a Spanish Cup runners-up medal to show for his time at the world’s most successful club. That stands in stark contrast to the 10 domestic trophies Mbappé won at Paris Saint-Germain during his seven years in the French capital. And it certainly won’t be lost on the striker that his former club have gone from strength to strength by winning back-to-back European Cups since he swapped Paris for Madrid.
As such, Mbappé finds himself in a wholly unique scenario. He undoubtedly remains one of the best players in the world. His 49 goals and assists in all competitions for Madrid last season and the subsequent 12 goals and assists in just eight World Cup games this summer certainly underline the fact that he is fulfilling his duties to an almost unrivalled degree. But, frustratingly, the teams he finds himself in seem incapable of winning major silverware either at club or international level.
Maybe Mourinho can turn back the years and slot back into the role he held between 2010 and 2013 when his pragmatic, hard-working Madrid teams went toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona. And, perhaps, incoming France manager Zinédine Zidane will be the right man to rejuvenate Mbappé’s national team and get them back to winning ways at Euro 2026. But for now, both prospects seem a little far-fetched. Mbappé may still be the best player in the world. But it’s hard to see when he’ll win his next major trophy.
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