Real Madrid and Barcelona £75 million race to sign Kylian Mbappe

En route to becoming the world's most expensive teenager

According to The Independent, Real Madrid and Barcelona have now entered the race to sign Europe's hottest young striker, Kylian Mbappe. The AS Monaco youngster was a target for four Premier League giants with Manchester City and Arsenal being the touted as the most likely destinations.
But the La Liga clubs have now entered the race after having witnessed the 18-year-old's performances against Pep Guardiola's side in the UEFA Champions League this week. The Bondy-born forward will reportedly cost any interested party a whopping £75 million – much, much more than Anthony Martial demanded a few years ago.

Mbappe was already subject to a bid even before he could establish himself as an AS Monaco first-teamer with Manchester City reportedly having bid £40 million last summer. Pep Guardiola and his team were so convinced with Mbappe's performances for in the youth ranks that they felt the teenager was worth every penny.

Should history have panned out differently, Mbappe would have already have been in the Premier League having attended a trial at Chelsea around seven years ago. He also tried out with Real Madrid a few years later under then-youth-manager Zinedine Zidane.
But he chose to stay at his home club AS Bondy and subsequently sealed a transfer to AS Monaco.

With a real shortage of quality strikers coming out of Europe, all of the 'big’ guns are moving quickly to tie-down exciting young forwards even if it means they cost a fortune. Real Madrid and Barcelona have had terrible luck in signing good strikers in recent windows but seem to be convinced that Mbappe is a one-in-a-million talent.
Manchester City and Arsenal retain the most number of interest with both manager, Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger, big fans of the 18-year-old. Wenger even went the distance in comparing the youngster to a ‘young Thierry Henry’ – a praise he's always held back when describing young strikers.