Kylian Mbappé

The French star player has already proved that he's one of the best in the history of the game.

Sometimes, fans and commentators can get so caught up in questions of where a player will end up at the end of their career, that we fail to fully appreciate what is in front of us. But even Haaland, whose national team did not qualify for the World Cup, is not as dynamic a player as Mbappé, who is able to create opportunities for himself seemingly out of nothing. It’s remarkable to think that we are witnessing a player who is already the best in the world, who likely is not at the height of his talents. The irony of Mbappé providing Giroud with the assist to break the record is that—if he remains healthy—Mbappé will almost certainly break that record. However, as dynamic as Messi can still be, at this stage of his career, what he instills in opposing players is more akin to reverence than sheer fear. He passed it through a group of Polish defenders to an open Mbappé, who collected the ball at the top of the box. As Mbappé got the ball, the two Polish defenders in front of him seemed to approach him in slow motion, then stood almost still in front of him, like a pair of deer standing in the middle of the highway watching an oncoming Ferrari. But if we are talking simply about some of the best players to have ever touched the pitch, this World Cup, Mbappé has further proved that his name should be on that list. If you watch Mbappé play, you know that so much of his quality as a player lies beyond the realm of that which can be measured empirically. He has one less goal than Lionel Messi, but Messi is playing in his fifth World Cup; again, Mbappé is playing in his second. Four years later, Mbappé is the top talent on an immensely talented French team looking to defend its World Cup title. France won the World Cup, and Mbappé, still a teenager, had already achieved what has eluded some of the greatest players of all time.