PSG star Kylian Mbappe: Parents stopped me joining Chelsea academy

Posted Friday, February 28, 2020 by Tribalfootball.com

PSG star Kylian Mbappe has spoken of trialling with Chelsea as a junior.

He was attracting attention from top clubs when was just 11 years of age, lifting the lid on his trial with Chelsea .

It was something even his close friends could barely believe as he rubbed shoulders with Blues legend Didier Drogba and other stars in an experience he says set him on his way to stardom.

In a piece for The Players' Tribune, he wrote: "Maybe if you're not from where I'm from, you cannot understand this. But, for example, when I was 11 years old, I got to go to London for a few days to train with Chelsea's youth team. I was so excited and shocked that I didn't even want to tell my friends from the neighborhood where I was going.

"I didn't have a phone back then, so I asked my dad to give me his, and I showed them the pictures we took. That's when they finally believed me. But the important thing was that they were not jealous. Not at all. They were just amazed.

"After that experience at Chelsea, I was begging my parents to let me leave Bondy and go away to a big club. But you have to understand my mother and father.

"They wanted me to stay at home so that I could be a child and live a normal life. I didn't understand it at the time, but it was actually the best thing for me, because I learned a lot of hard lessons that I would have never learned in a bubble at an academy."