The story of Mbappé and his ‘Zidane-style’ haircut

There was an air of inevitability about Kylian Mbappé moving from Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid. The forward has previously referred to Los Blancos’ all-time top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo as his “idol,” while three-time Champions League winning manager Zinedine Zidane was his first footballing hero, to the point where he copied his balding compatriot’s “haircut”.

Mbappé “spent hours watching Cristiano Ronaldo”

Back in 2020, Mbappé posted two photos of him and Ronaldo on Instagram during France’s match against Portugal, along with the caption “idol”. Although by that point, his admiration for the former Manchester United man was already common knowledge for many.

In an interview with France Football in 2016, Mbappé's father Wilfried had revealed his son “was a Real Madrid fan” and “used to spend hours watching videos of Ronaldo”.

Snaps of a 14-year-old Mbappé posing in his bedroom, the walls covered with posters of the Portugal captain, have since emerged on social media, as well as one of the pair together at Real Madrid’s training complex in December 2012, around the time of his 14th birthday.

“If you’re a boy and you’re French, your idol is Zidane”

But before Ronaldo, Zidane was Mbappé's number one. “If you’re a boy and you’re French, your idol is Zidane,” the attacker has previously stated. That said, arguably Zidane’s greatest moment, scoring twice in the 1998 World Cup final, happened five months before Mbappé was even born.

In any case, it turns out he was not just a fan of the Zizou’s unique elegance, incredible vision and impeccable technique, but also of his hairstyle…even though he was going bald.

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Mbappé “mad” for copying balding Zidane’s haircut

In an interview with French broadcaster Canal + in 2017, Mbappé explained his fashion choice: “At that time, I was in my own world a little bit. That made me want to have the same haircut as him. Because when you like a player, you want to do everything the same as him.

“Even though children hate spinach, if he eats spinach, you eat spinach anyway. I wanted to do everything and I didn’t know he was going bald, so I asked the hairdresser to cut a round bit of our my hair. He thought I was mad.”

We’ve never seen Mbappé with longer locks, and it seems as if Zidane is part of the reason why. Having copied his haircut, can he now imitate his success (mainly as a coach, admittedly) in the Spanish capital?