Kylian Mbappe: The beautiful executioner chasing FIFA World Cup glory

If a quadrennial football watcher can be stirred enough to dare offer an opinion on the game, the provocation — and inspiration — lies in the realisation that talismanic forward Kylian Mbappe has, in a matter of eight years, transcended Joga Bonito to join the global pantheon of sport.It is a house where the gods bear names such as Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson, Donald Bradman and Garfield Sobers, Pele and, possibly, Messi, Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson, Nadia Comaneci, Roger Federer, and a certain Michael Jordan. They form a distilled, sacred list of men and women from across disciplines and decades who rose above their individual pursuits to become bywords for elegance and efficiency. In a word, perfection.

Eight years after he first announced himself to the world as a teenager, Mbappe has spent the past month producing exquisite performances before overflowing grounds across North America, leaving the world gasping for breath. It has been breathless and beautiful.A bewildered world has realised that this effectiveness of execution, built on intelligence and embellished with elegance, transcends football. It has universal appeal.

Despite being fed on the slam-bang of baseball and the other ‘football’, casual American fans have come out in droves for soccer. But the one name on their lips at the Boston base camp and beyond has been Mbappe. Figures walking around in Tshirts bearing his name are ubiquitous. So much so that he has even been asked whether he will end his career by settling down in the adoring US. A white American woman turned up at the Bentley University training ground and proclaimed that her compatriots loved only Mbappe.

Asked why, she stumbled, searching for attributes, before laughing: “He is good-looking. That makes it easier.” Perhaps it is that cherubic face, oozing innocence and vulnerability.Looks aside, Mbappe’s mastery of the ‘art of feet’ is so complete, his confidence so unshakeable, his fearlessness on the big stage so supreme and his leadership so inspirational that the newest French hero is a piece of the same rare wood from which the greats are carved.

He has a long way to go, but he is already a veteran. His performances are so legendary that he is ripe for judgement even today. When it all ends — possibly three more Coupes du Monde after the US — the boy who became a man over three World Cups, beginning in Moscow in 2018, could be an immortal who answers to the acronym GOAT.One does not need to be a fanatic who sleepwalks across time zones for Serie A, the Bundesliga and the Premier League to recognise Mbappe’s calibre.

He offers a presence on the pitch that grips you in the moment, sets the pulse racing and lingers afterwards. He is like the actress you fall for, the delicacy you lust after, the moon you long for. He is remote, yet oozes a charisma that feels close. He takes a piece of your heart.

Who needs an expert when the Bondy Boy tugs at the heart of everyman?Generations have come and gone, recounting such men and moments. In awe. Around bonfires, in dark rooms, on long journeys.Over 200 years, cricket has changed from the primitive to the modern, and from timepass to a multi-billion-dollar circus, but Don Bradman remains the legend he was when he hung up his flannels at the Oval in London in 1948, and Garfield Sobers remains “the greatest”. In an age that has put the most enduring certitudes into question, Don and Sobers command a consensus beyond any shadow of doubt.A glib Obama best described the superman hoopster MJ by turning the Chicago Bulls star into a general metaphor: “Michael Jordan of what he does.”

Nadia, the Romanian girl, remains the Perfect 10. Federer is the “ooh-aah” name of awe, the visual sensuality of his tennis having revived interest in a sport jaded by formulaic, muscular winning mantras.Over decades, these men and women rose above the greats to become the greatest. For they reinvented their chosen pursuits and then grew beyond them. They were treats beyond the ordinary. As French football followers repeatedly say these days of Les Bleus, “ Banaliser le spectaculaire ” — these people normalised the unbelievable.The boy who jolted the world into taking notice in Moscow was a bundle of energy, a speed merchant who sprang across the ground with artful dribbling that left dazed defenders reeling in his blurred wake. He ran, dodged and scored. He did it again in Qatar four years later, and for his clubs in the intervening years. He was the headline and the story, quietly replacing and surpassing the ageing Lionel Messi. And in the US, he picked up where he had left off in the Qatar final against Argentina, where he turned the game on its head in the final 10 minutes before completing a hat-trick in extra time.

He was elegant but also brutally effective. It was mesmerising.Something has changed dramatically, though. In the US, backed by the brilliant Michael Olise and Desiré Doue, Kylian bursts from a standing start, creates space and finds the net. What is missing is the footwork that once elicited the “oohs” and “aahs”, even as his performances remain ruthless, consistent and eye-popping. In an interview two years ago, Kylian explained: “ Je n’ai plus besoin de dribbler pour marquer le but (I no longer need to dribble to score).

” The boy has simply matured, trading elegance for efficiency to become the Executioner. Except that, in his case, efficiency is also elegant. In the timeless epithet “the beautiful game”, he is the adjective.Greats keep growing. Conjuring magic and moves. Inventing and reinventing. Inspiring. Putting society and sport in a perfect symphony of dreams and fulfilment.Mbappe is the talisman of France, a mascot for football, an “ooh-ahoui ” for the fans. A horizon opening onto new frontiers.