The Players Chelsea FC Chose To Keep Instead Of Signing Kylian Mbappe Back In 2012

With Kylian Mbappe’s latest exploits at the World Cup in Qatar 2022, let’s revisit how Chelsea Football Club missed out on an outstanding talent back in 2012, and also discover the player they decided to keep and promote instead of signing Kylian Mbappe.

Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick in the Final of the World Cup, and becomes the first player in the history of football to ever do so at the 2022 World Cup Final against Argentina. Instead of heading back to PSG, Mbappe could have been heading back to Chelsea, but The Blues rejected the chance to sign him back in 2012 when he was just 14 years old.

Young Kylian Mbapee was a young prodigy at the time, and Chelsea were the first team to give him a trial.

However, despite his tricks and talent in front of goal while on trail at Chelsea, youth coaches needed him to also make an effort defensively, so they wanted him to improve on his defensive game, and come back for another trial.

However, Kylian Mbappe’s mom was not interested in returning as she warned that Chelsea would sign him for £50M in the future, if they fail to take the opportunity then, but Chelsea didn’t.

Chelsea instead kept Dominic Solanke and promoted him.

Dominic Solanke was good for Chelsea in the age groups and academy, but he failed to make an impact in the first team and left the club years later. Solanke now plays for Bournemouth in the Premier League.

This is a story of how Chelsea didn’t let a youngster be a youngster. The Blues could have signed him and helped him develop his game, but they chose to ignore his attacking qualities, because he could not defend well.