A rare breed

There are a cornucopia of rare traits that first propelled Kylian Mbappe to the very zenith of his sport and subsequently kept him there.

His blistering pace is an obvious place to start, the striker recording a top speed of 37.6 km/h during the 2026 World Cup, the fastest of any player in the tournament.

With a longer step length to most of his peers, and an ability to accelerate at full-pelt from a standing start, Mbappe can eviscerate opponents via his explosive running.

Pure speed, of course, can only take a player so far, when it’s exclusive to twinkling footwork and close control. But the Real Madrid star has these gifts in abundance too.

With sharp upper-body drops and quick-witted feet working in unison, the 27-year-old’s dribbling skills are worth a match ticket alone.

Then, naturally, we cannot overlook the goal-scoring that derives from these attributes. In 495 appearances for Monaco, PSG and Real Madrid the lethal finisher has converted 385 goals, while for France he is already his nation’s all-time record goalscorer with many more years of his career still to play out.

Some of these goals have been spectacular. Others clinical. His career-best highlights reel contains strikes that defy belief.

High performance week on week

When combined, or in isolation, what all of these traits have in common is how incendiary and exciting they are. They get spectators out of their seats, or have them shout at astonishment at their televisions.

Yet accompanying all of these qualities is another, a trait that is immensely important in the make-up of a superstar despite it never getting the full credit it deserves.

That’s because, frankly, in comparison to explosive pace, fantastical footwork, and headline-grabbing goals, it lacks pizazz.

All the same, Kylian Mbappe is consistency personified.

Think of this characteristic in a footballer and what perhaps comes to mind first is a full-back, running diligently up and down the line, and putting in six out of ten performances week win, week out. That or a holding midfielder, reliable and steadfast.

But to use an extreme example to illustrate the point, would Lionel Messi have won the Ballon d’Or a record eight times if he had shown his genius only in flashes? Would Cristiano Ronaldo have been crowned a Ballon d’Or champion on five occasions if he veered from sensational to ordinary one game to the next?

Put another way, it’s one thing to be the best, quite another to prove you’re the best over and over again, and it is this consistency that has set this extraordinary pair apart in the modern era as much as their supernatural feats.

This is highly pertinent because, when it comes to building a Ballon d’Or legacy, only Mbappe comes close to them in this regard, the French attacker finishing inside the top ten for nine consecutive years.

From first emerging as a force to be reckoned with as a teenager at Monaco to twice outgunning his peers at World Cup finals, the brilliant Parisien has constantly brought his A-game to the demanding environs of elite football. 

2017 – Sixth

Five months prior to receiving his first Ballon d’or recognition, Mbappe joined PSG for a fee exceeding £160m. It made him the most expensive teenager of all time.

Though the forward immediately hit the ground running in the French capital, his sixth-place finish in 2017 largely derived from his Champions League heroics with Monaco, firing Les Rouge et Blanc to the semi-finals.

2018 – Fourth, plus Kopa Trophy winner

Mbappe’s first full year in Paris prompted an avalanche of goals while his impactful displays for France at that summer’s World Cup cemented his place within the highest echelon of talents.

His fourth goal of the tournament came in the final, making him the youngest player since Pele to score in the sport’s most prestigious fixture.

These achievements secured Mbappe with the inaugural Kopa Trophy, an award given the best young talent that year.

2019 – Sixth

Between the autumns of 2018 and 2019, the forward racked up nine goal involvements in the Champions League. In Ligue 1, Mbappe was a frightening proposition, scoring 33 and assisting ten times in 29 outings across 2018/19. That equates to a goal involvement every 54.4 minutes. 

2021 – Ninth

With no Ballon d’Or in 2020 due to the pandemic we fast-forward to 2021, and an acknowledgement of another prolific calendar year that included eight Champions League strikes.

This lofty tally included a remarkable hat-trick scored at Camp Nou.

On the international stage there was disappointment at that summer’s Euros, the player missing a spot-kick as Les Bleus exited at the Round of 16 stage. 

2022 – Sixth

A decisive goal scored against Spain in that year’s Nations League final helped atone for his miss, while at the subsequent World Cup, Mbappe was unquestionably one of the competition’s stand-out performers, claiming the Golden Boot with eight strikes.

2023 – Third

The year when Lionel Messi held aloft his eighth Golden Ball saw two formidable forwards run him close.

Both Erling Haaland and Mbappe converted a staggering volume of goals in their respective leagues and in continental competition. For the latter, his haul totalled 41 as PSG narrowly beat out Lens to another league title.  

2024 – Sixth, plus Gerd Müller Trophy winner

Across 2024, Mbappe fired 52 goals, closing his PSG chapter with a level of prolificacy that was only matched by Harry Kane.

Between them, the deadly pair duly shared the Gerd Müller trophy.

2025 - Seventh

Real Madrid may have experienced a season of near-misses in 2024/25 but Mbappe’s introduction to La Liga was explosive nonetheless, notching 31 times in 34 appearances.

It was the highest number of goals scored by an individual in the Spanish top-flight for six campaigns.

2026 – Runner-up

It was a season of records broken by the striker, not least at the World Cup where he became the first player since 1970 to reach double figures.

For Los Blancos meanwhile he fired a remarkable 42 in 44, his haul in La Liga ensuring he won the Pichichi Trophy for a second season in a row.

Another blistering campaign of goals and general brilliance. Another high finish at the Ballon d’Or, his best to date.