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Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe has revealed how he uses Barcelona captain Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for inspiration whenever he steps onto a football pitch.
Mbappe is one of the most exciting youngsters in world football and is expected to take over from Messi as the best player in the world once the Barcelona captain hangs up his boots.
Yet the France international readily admits that he has some way to go until he gets close to matching Messi’s achievements. However, he has revealed he does tell himself he is better than the Barcelona skipper whenever he takes to the pitch.
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Mbappe Talks Messi
The World Cup winner spoke about his ego in an interview with RMC Sport and how he tells himself he’s the best in the world in a bid to maximize his performance, as reported by ESPN.
“Each time I enter the pitch, in my head I always tell myself that I am the best and that is taking into account that I have shared pitches with Messi and Cristiano. They are better players than me, they have done a billion more things than me,” he explained. “But in my head I always tell myself that I am the best because like this you don’t put any limits on yourself and you try to give the best of yourself. Of course, sometimes people don’t understand because I think that there is also this barrier that is created by this topic, where we don’t really explain what an ego is.”
Messi and Mbappe met in the Champions League this season with PSG coming out on top in the last 16. The Barcelona star scored in both legs of the tie, but Mbappe upstaged his rival with a hat-trick at the Camp Nou.
The PSG star shared an enigmatic post on social media after the game of the two players in action with the caption, “thanks football for giving me this opportunity to live this dream every day.”
Mbappe Moving to La Liga?
Mbappe’s future at the French club remains the subject of speculation. The forward has been regularly linked with a move to Real Madrid and is yet to sign a contract extension with Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
The France international’s contract expires in 2022 and he was asked about whether he would sign an extension after playing for the national team against Bosnia-Herzegovina in World Cup qualifying.
Mbappe told RTL, “If it had progressed, I would have come to talk about it already. Of course, I will talk about it when I have made up my mind.”
If Mbappe does not sign a contract extension this summer then PSG may be forced to consider selling the superstar to avoid him leaving for free next summer when his contract finally expires.
French daily newspaper Le Parisien has reported the French club is “growing impatient” with Mbappe and could be willing to lower his asking price to €120-150 million ($141-176m), according to Marca.
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