Former Chelsea Scout, Daniel Boga has revealed how Chelsea missed out on signing Kylian Mpabbe for nothing in 2012.
Mbappe trained with the Blues for a week as a 13-year-old and played in a junior match, impressing coaches with his attacking ability.
But according to Boga, the Premier League club were not convinced by his work-rate and asked him to come back for another trial — a request Mbappe’s mum Fayza Lamari rejected.
‘I brought him over with his family,’ Boga told Goal. ‘He was skillful like he is now. He played against Charlton and won 7-0.
‘After a week at Chelsea, we went into the office. We said, “Listen, we appreciate what we saw from you but we have to invite you back for another trial and we’ll see after that.”
‘I remember what the mother said to this day. She spoke in French and I was translating.
‘She said to me, “Listen, my boy won’t be coming back. If they want him they have to take him now or in five year’s time they will be coming back to buy him for €50million!”‘
‘Defensively, he wasn’t there yet. When he got the ball, he was unbelievable, but without the ball, he didn’t work a lot.
‘They should have signed him. To be fair, though, it is easy to say that now. But, at the time, Chelsea had a good squad.’
Mbappe has burst into the World football scene with impressive performances for Club and Country coupled with winning the World Cup in Russia.