Kylian Mbappe was on Chelsea’s radar as a youngster and went for a trial with the Blues, but his mother put an end to any possible move by refusing to return for the London club to have a second look at her son.
Mbappe is now one of the most feared players on the planet, preparing to play against England with France in the World Cup quarter-final in Qatar on Saturday.
The Paris Saint-Germain star has only played professionally for his current team and Monaco, but when he was in the youth ranks at AS Bondy he was already catching the eye of Premier League teams.
At just 12 years old he was invited for a trial with Premier League side Chelsea, heading to London for a few days in 2011 and even playing in a game against Charlton.
The Blues were not totally blown away by the Frenchman, but were impressed enough to ask Mbappe return for a second visit so they could have a look at him again.
The Athletic spoke to former Chelsea scout Daniel Boga who told the story of Mbappe’s mother, Fayza Lamari, saying there would be no second visit, Chelsea had to sign her son then or not at all.
Boga explained: ‘You know English football — you tackle, you track back players when you lose the ball. He wasn’t like that. When he lost the ball, he stopped playing.
‘Chelsea said, “We want to see him again and we want to see this part of his football”.
‘But then the mum said, “No, we won’t come again”. I was translating. ‘She said, “Tell them, he won’t come back. If you want to sign him, you sign him now”. And she said, “In five years’ time, you will come back for him for £50million”. She said, “Translate that.”
‘I can’t say that. It’s too arrogant to say something like this. So I didn’t translate it. I just said to Jim [Fraser, head of youth recruitment], “I don’t think they will come back, so you have to make a decision now”.’
