Sports Nicknames - Donatello

Kylian Mbappe is one of the most fascinating players on the planet at the moment. Not even in his mid-twenties at the time of writing, he is already one of the most dangerous attacking footballers in the world. He was only 19 when he played a large part in helping France to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.



Mbappe made his first team debut for AS Monaco in 2015 against SM Caen, becoming the youngest player to ever appear for Monaco. He then broke another record by becoming the youngest ever to score for Monaco, at 17 years and 62 days. He continued breaking young player records the next season, helping Monaco to the Ligue 1 title over giants PSG.

Of course, PSG would not accept this and proceeded to pay €145 million plus €35 million in add-ons for Mbappe, making him the most expensive teenager ever and potentially the second-most expensive player behind teammate Neymar. He helped PSG to a domestic treble in his first season before winning it the next year as top scorer. In the 2019-2020 season, PSG were runners-up in the Champions League when they lost to Bayern Munich.

Even in Mbappe's short career, he's picked up a number of interesting nicknames. His French teammates like Antoine Griezman call him "Kiki", despite him not particularly liking it. He is called Donatello (after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle character) by his PSG teammates after Presnel Kimpembe called him that because "he looks a bit like a turtle".

What is clear is that Mbappe is already in football's history books. What remains to be seen is if he can carry on this level of play throughout the rest of his career, which would be highly impressive indeed.

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