Mbappé Sr: Kylian would have joined Real Madrid if Zidane hadn't become assistant coach
Kylian Mbappé's father says the striker would "probably" have moved to Real Madrid as a youth player had Zinedine Zidane not become assistant to the LaLiga giants' head coach, Carlo Ancelotti, in 2013.
Mbappé slipped through Real Madrid's fingers as youth player
Having taken Ligue 1 and the Champions League by storm last term, Mbappé, 18, is set for a summer switch from AS Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain, with the French capital club taking him on an initial loan deal due to financial fair play restrictions.
However, it is well documented that the France international almost signed for Real's youth set-up as a 14-year-old, having been flown over to Spain in late 2012 to visit Los Blancos' facilities and meet figures such as forward Cristiano Ronaldo and current first-team boss Zidane, then in a supervisory role in the academy.
"If Zidane had stayed in charge of recruiting..."
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"We had plenty of meetings with Monsieur Zidane but from the moment he became assistant coach to the first team [ahead of the 2013/14 season] I believed that he'd not have the right amount of time for Kylian," Wilfrid Mbappé explained in comments published by ESPN.
"If Zidane had stayed in charge of recruiting and looking after young talent like Kylian, we'd probably just have joined Madrid instead of Monaco."