Ex-Blues scout recalls how Kylian Mbappe’s mother stopped Chelsea transfer
Former Chelsea scout Daniel Boga has recalled how Kylian Mbappe’s mother, Fayza Lamari, stopped a potential Chelsea transfer from happening for the French striker by refusing to return to London for trials.
Back in 2011, Mbappe had a trial at Chelsea and even played against Charlton. The Blues weren’t fully convinced by the young forward due to his lack of defending when losing the ball.
They wanted to see him play again and notice the part of the game where he would have to track back and help his team in defence. This, of course, is the most sensible thing to do for any scout.
If they don’t give a proper report on the player, then they’re not really good at their jobs. Ex-Blues scout Daniel Boga was a leading figure during this time with regard to a potential transfer of Kylian Mbappe to Stamford Bridge.
But he recalled how Mbappe’s mother’s ‘arrogance’ put a stop to things. She gave Chelsea an ultimatum and told them that they will live to regret not signing her son.
Boga told the Athletic (Subscription Required) [h/t Metro]:
‘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”.’
There was supposedly interest from Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Liverpool but he chose to move to AS Monaco in the summer of 2017. Les Parisiens paid an eventual fee of 180million Euros to sign him permanently.
He is now the undisputed star in France’s international team and a jewel in a star-studded PSG attack. His mother’s warning proved to be right. But that doesn’t mean the Blues were wrong or that the scouts made a mistake.
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They simply tried to do their job and offered Mbappe a re-trial as well. If they took a risk and signed him without another trial, it wouldn’t have been shabby, of course. But it was arguably the sensible thing to pass on him them.
