PSG’s Mbappe reveals Wenger talks and his experience at great club Chelsea
Kylian Mbappe discussed interest from both Arsenal and Chelsea after completing a move to Paris Saint-Germain.
The 18-year-old striker had a sensational breakthrough season at Monaco last term, scoring 26 goals in 44 appearances, and was heavily linked with a Premier League switch ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.
Mbappe, though, signed a season-long loan deal with PSG ahead of a possible £165million permanent move next summer but admits a move to north London was a ‘real option’.
‘Yes, I met with Arsene Wenger, who is a great coach. He has a great reputation here in France, he’s well-respected and knows how to develop young players,’ the France forward said.
‘This was a real option for me. But, of course, Paris Saint-Germain was the main option.
‘We weighed up the advantages and disadvantages of all the clubs but my family told me it had to be my decision and one I needed to make. It also had to be a long-term decision. So it was up to me and I decided to come here in order to develop.’
The teenager also lifted the lid on his trial at Chelsea as a when he was aged just 11 when he got the chance to meet both Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda.
He said: ‘It was a wonderful experience. Chelsea was the first great club, the first big club, that I went to visit. So it was a real discovery for me.
‘I was coming from my grassroots, amateur club. It was a whole new world.
‘I saw things differently because up until then I had just a French mentality and after that I could pick what was positive in other mentalities and build my own.
‘I got to meet some of the first-team players – (Didier) Drogba, (Florent) Malouda – the French-speaking ones and took some pictures with them.’
Mbappe admits his experience with Chelsea as a youngster helped inspire him to become a great player.
He added: ‘An idea has been reinforced since I was a kid – not just because I went to Chelsea.
‘I always thought: “I want to be there, I want to be one of those big players who is trying to give people fun out of the game.”‘
