So often in world football, like the times in which the seasons change, new superstars or prodigies in footballing terms come around and the fans and media alike are left with the unenviable task of labelling them.
The term “Generational player” can be described as a player whose greatness and on-field exploits transcends generation. A generational player defines a generation, is the poster boy of the sport for that generation and would be talked about as a flag bearer of the sport long after he’s hanged up his boots.
Kylian Mbappé, Joao Felix, Marcus Rashford,Ousmanne Dembele, Jadon Sancho, Erling Håland, Dejan Kulusevski, Ansu Fati, Gabriel Martinelli, Mason greenwood are the latest breed of youthful footballing marquee superstars in major European clubs vying for the label of Generational player by fans all over the globe.
JAOA FELIX
After switching from Portuguese heavyweights Porto to rivals Benfica in 2015 as a 15year old ,he quickly broke into the latter’s first team in 2018, making his professional debut at age 18. He then starred as a goalscorer and helped Benfica to win the league title in his first and only season with them, and was awarded Primeira Liga’s Best Young Player of the Year.
Internationally, he became the youngest ever player to score a hat-trick in the UEFA Europa League, aged 19.
His exploits quickly caught the attention of several European clubs and finally, Spanish side Atletico Madrid put their money where their interest were by acquiring his services in 2019 for a club record transfer worth €126 million (£113 million), the fourth-most expensive football transfer, the second-most ever paid for a teenager and the highest fee for a Portuguese player leaving the domestic league.
He’s so far failed to light up the spanish league as his insane transfer fee might suggest he would but the talent and potential is clear for even the naysayers and doubters to see and backed by the fact that in November 2019 he won the Golden Boy Award as the best under-21 player in Europe, the odds are firmly in his favour to finally come good.
MARCUS RASHFORD
For a 22year old Academy graduate,the name- Marcus Rashford has become a staple in the lips of mancunians in particular and among fans of the sport on social media platforms in general, not a bad turn of events for a youngster stepping into a huge sporting platform as Manchester United.
A Manchester United player from the age of seven, he scored two goals on both his first-team debut against Midtjylland in the UEFA Europa League in February 2016 and his Premier League debut against Arsenal three days later. He also scored in his first Manchester derby match, his first EFL Cup match and his first UEFA Champions League match. With United, Rashford has so far won the FA Cup, EFL Cup, FA Community Shield and UEFA Europa League.
Rashford also scored on his England debut in May 2016, becoming the youngest English player to score in his first senior international match. He played at the UEFA Euro 2016 as the tournament’s youngest player, and at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
His pacy style of play and similar free-kick playing ability has drawn comparisons to ex-united Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo and his ability to not only be the go-to man in the goalscoring department by notching up an impressive series of assists and chances created has duly earned him a star status for his club and at 178 appearances in all competitions he’s managed to score 64 goals in club colours and 10 in international colours. The onus is on the fleet-footed Englishman to rack up his goalscoring record in the following years to come.
The list goes on and on and the many qualities of the aforementioned players would take more than simply an article to fully put into detail but Unarguably the name among those which is a shoo-in for the “Generational player tag is the Flash-like Frenchman Kylian Mbappé, Mbappé started his senior career playing for Ligue 1 club Monaco, where he made hisprofessional debut in 2015, aged 16. With them, he won a Ligue 1 title, Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year, and the Golden Boy award.
In 2017, Mbappé signed for league rivals Paris Saint-Germain on an initial loan, which was made permanent a year later in a transfer worth €180 million, making him the second-most expensive player, and most expensive teenager, ever.[4] With PSG, Mbappé won two Ligue 1 titles, a Coupe de France, has finished as Ligue 1 top scorer and won Ligue 1 Player of the Year, and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the club’s history.
At international level, Mbappé made his senior debut for France in 2017, at age 18. At the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Mbappé became the youngest French player to score at a World Cup, and became the second teenager, after Pelé, to score in a World Cup Final. He finished as the joint second-highest goalscorer as France won the tournament, and he received the Best Young Player and French Player of the Year awards for his performances.
No one has probably described the youngster better than his youth coach at AS BONDY, Antonio Riccardi
“The first time I coached him was when he was six years old. You could tell he was different. Kylian could do much more than the other children. His dribbling was already fantastic and he was much faster than the others. He was the best player I’ve ever seen in 15 years coaching here. In Paris, there are many talents but I’d never seen a talent like him. He was what we call a ‘crack’ (the best)”
An Unarguably apt description that is being proven by the youngster everytime he steps on the field.
Pele was a generational player, Maradona was a generational player, Cryuff was a generational player, Ronaldo,Zidane, Ronaldinho and the duo of Messi and C.Ronaldo are the present day footballing behemoths and rightly deserves the “Generational player” tag and in the no-so-distant future, the Paris born attacker with African ancestry has shown he has everything and more in his locker to step into the throne.
Consistency is what separates good players from great players and consequently great players from generational players and Kylian Mbappé has shown on multiple occasions that he is not just some flash in the pan, a one-season wonder by stepping up for his clubsides and national team for three seasons and counting, winning personal and collective titles along the way. At this point it seems only the grim reaper called “longterm Injury” can halt his ascent.
