Seven years and 11 trophies, but no Champions League: Has Kylian Mbappé’s time at Paris Saint-Germain been a success?

Kylian Mbappé arrived at Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 as a baby-faced 19-year-old, carrying the weighty tags of being the second most expensive footballer in history and “without doubt the most promising” young player in the world, as club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi described him at the time.

Kylian Mbappé arrived at Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 as a baby-faced 19-year-old, carrying the weighty tags of being the second most expensive footballer in history and “without doubt the most promising” young player in the world, as club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi described him at the time. The burden of helping the club try and secure its first ever Champions League title, though shared at times in his seven seasons in Paris with Zlatan Ibrahimović, Lionel Messi and Neymar, was also placed on Mbappé’s shoulders after PSG paid Monaco a reported $214 million for his services. Mbappé’s time at PSG has been one filled with successes, both team and individual. He’s won six Ligue 1 titles, three French Cups, two League Cups and a record five Player of the Year awards. The one very notable omission from his trophy cabinet, however, is the Champions League, the title the club’s Qatari owners have craved the most since taking over in 2011. For all the vast sums of money lavished on some of the greatest names in world football, the closest Mbappé and PSG got was the final in 2020, where the team lost to Bayern Munich. “There are a lot of emotions,” Mbappé said in his farewell video posted on social media. “Many years I had the chance and the great honor to be a member of the biggest French club, one of the best in the world, which allowed me to arrive here to have my first experience in a club with a lot of pressure.” Almost seven years after arriving, Mbappé will have one final chance to add to his silverware collection when PSG faces Lyon in the French Cup final on Saturday.