Competing against the top talent from Bondy was no small challenge, especially considering their alumni includes more than a handful of professional footballers, such as Arsenal defender William Saliba.
The ambition of Project Mbappe extended beyond expectations.
While young Mbappe decorated his walls with pictures of Ronaldo and watched clips of another Real Madrid legend, Zinedine Zidane, he also had a closer role model in his adopted brother, Jires Kembo Ekoko.
When Ekoko was nine, he became part of Mbappe’s family and later joined the French Federation’s national academy at Clairefontaine before moving on to a professional career with Rennes in Ligue 1.
Although Ekoko was over ten years older than Mbappe, his influence was significant.
By the age of six, Mbappe had already learned the French national anthem, telling his teacher, “One day, I’ll represent France in the World Cup.”
It wasn’t just his parents, Wilfried and Fayza, who believed in Mbappe’s potential for greatness.
Nike reached out to him with free shoes when he was only 10 years old. Just over six years later, he made his debut for the Monaco first team. However, the path between those milestones was not without its challenges.
Allan Momege, a classmate of Mbappe at Clairefontaine, recalls his first impressions.
“When I first met him, he wasn’t the most impressive player,” Momege shares in the BBC Sport documentary.
“During the trials, he didn’t really stand out to me. The first time I watched him play, I didn’t think, ‘Wow!’
“In our regional selections, Kylian wasn’t part of the top team.”
Matt Spiro, an author and French football expert, shares Momege’s sentiments.
“Kylian faced some challenges at Clairefontaine initially,” he explains. “During his first year, he certainly wasn’t the best player in his group. I think even Kylian would agree with that.
“He played on the wing and often appeared sulky. However, he had a growth spurt towards the end of his first year at Clairefontaine, and by his second year, he really began to show his potential.
“Then, people started to think we were witnessing a very, very special talent.”
That talent caught the attention of Monaco scouts in July 2013, when he was just 14 years old.
Relocating from the suburbs of Paris to the affluent, sunny Cote d’Azur at such a young age could have overwhelmed many.
But not the boy from Bondy.
