Who is the better player: Neymar or Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe

Ethan Blumes

Kylian Mbappe was born on December 20, 1998 in Bondy France.  He is a 19 year old soccer phenom. Recruited by AS Monaco at the age of 15, he quickly showed that he is no ordinary soccer player. Mbappe at the age of 15 was starting for the U19 team and showing his dominance as a young teenager.  

The 2016-2017 season is when Mbappe began to stand out as a seventeen year old starter for Ligue 1’s AS Monaco. He played 29 games and scored 15 goals and got 8 assists.  During his campaign at Monaco he managed to help his team get to the semi finals of the Champions League which is the farthest the team has ever gotten.

Mbappe now plays for Paris Saint Germain (PSG) who is in France’s league and is the the most decorated club. PSG has a combined total of 38 trophies.  PSG had to pay a price tag of 180 million euros which is equivalent to 204 million US dollars.

As a 19 year old Mbappe is the most decorated teenager of the 21st century.  He has won 7 trophies and one is the most sought after: the World Cup.

Mbappe is better than Neymar because he still has room to improve. He hasn’t even reached his prime yet.  Although Neymar does have better dribbling skills than Mbappe, Mbappe makes up for it with his shooting and speed.  Mbappe is only 19 years old and still has 13 more years playing at the top level. Neymar is 26 and already at his prime and only has 8 more years in him to play at the top level.

 

Neymar 

Nate Hughes

Neymar da Silva Santos Junior, famously known just as Neymar, was born February 5, 1992 in São Paulo, Brazil. He has been one of the most dominant players in soccer for over 5 years behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Neymar began playing soccer as a boy under the guidance of his father, also named Neymar, who was a professional soccer player.

Neymar Jr’s first professional contract was with a team named Santos, where he averaged a goal a game and received an award for the best goal scored in the calendar year (Puskas Award).

However, Neymar got most of his exposure when he signed a contract with FC Barcelona in June of 2013 for €57 Million, converted to about $76 million. In all competitions at Barcelona, he scored 105 goals and had 59 assists in 186 appearances for the club. In addition, he won the treble (three major trophies in a single season) and formed one of the most formidable trios world football has ever seen along with fellow stars Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, known as MSN.

However, in order to create his own legacy, Neymar decided to leave Barcelona for PSG, the same club Mbappe plays for. At PSG, Neymar scored 28 league goals in his debut season, while winning the french league Ligue 1.

Neymar is better than Mbappe due to his amazing skill, quick acceleration, and unparalleled shooting. For example, when Neymar has the ball, he is not losing it unless he is fouled. Mbappe is young and inexperienced, even though he is incredibly fast, he loses the ball quite often when he has it. Neymar is tied with Messi for the second highest dribbling rate in the world with a 62%. Messi is considered the best player of all time and he is keeping up with him. Compared to Mbappe’s rate of 48% he is not on the same scale as Neymar. Lastly, Neymar scored 25 goals last season compared to Mbappe’s 17 goals. Although Mbappe isn’t as good as Neymar yet, it doesn’t mean he won’t in years to come.