Top French talismen 

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Such is the strength of Real Madrid’s attacking arsenal that the Spanish giants were able to comfortably beat Real Sociedad 4-1 in LaLiga on Saturday without any help from star striker Kylian Mbappé. After struggling with a knee injury in recent weeks, the French striker was fit enough to make the bench but was ultimately not needed as one goal each from Gonzalo García and Federico Valverde, alongside a brace from Vinicius Junior confirmed all three points for Álvaro Arbeloa’s side. However, that result shouldn’t lead anyone to think Madrid haven’t needed their talented No.10 in attack this season.

Indeed, Mbappé has been nothing short of remarkable for Los Blancos this season, scoring an incredible 38 goals in 31 games for Madrid. When we add his five assists to that tally, it means the 27-year-old striker has picked up 43 goal contributions in 31 games, which works out at a very impressive 1.45 goals and assists per 90 minutes of football across all competitions for Madrid. When we compare that to Europe’s other top talisman, only Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane has picked up more goals and assists in league and cup competitions, with 46 goal contributions in 35 games. But that shouldn’t take anything away from Mbappé’s remarkable hit-rate in front of goal. The former Paris Saint-Germain forward is having an impressive season by any standards and could well make history for his nation in the years to come.

When we tally up Mbappé’s total goals and assists over the course of his entire senior career it offers up some staggering numbers. Across 458 games for Monaco, PSG and now Real Madrid in all competitions, the striker has now bagged 365 goals and 136 assists. That works out at an incredible 501 goal contributions in total and 1.09 goals and assists per appearance. Such prolific form in front of goal has led to Mbappé being compared to both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the past, with the latter often being cited as one of the French striker’s most notable inspirations. However, when we compare the Madrid talent to his compatriots through the years, we can see that Mbappé may in fact be on course to becoming France’s most impressive striker ever.

How Mbappé compares to France’s greatest ever strikers

As we can see in the table above, Mbappé’s impressive career to date already places him second among all Frenchmen when it comes to goals and assists in Europe’s top five leagues, as well as goal contributions in accompanying domestic tournaments and European competitions, such as the Europa League and Champions League. Despite only being 27 years of age, the Madrid striker has already overtaken Antoine Griezmann (420 goals and assists in 742 games) and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry (446 goals and assists in 659 games). And as things currently stand, the only French striker that outranks Mbappé in terms of goals and assists in key competitions is former Madrid talisman Karim Benzema, who picked up an impressive 601 goals and assists in 796 games in Europe.

However, as some eagle-eyed readers may have noticed, what also stands out among Mbappé’s numbers aside from his second-place ranking on the table is that it took the Madrid star just 458 games to reach that tally. As the table above clearly shows, Mbappé has reached 501 goal contributions in fewer games than any other player in the top 10, with the next closest being Michel Platini, who bagged an impressive 357 goal contributions in 87 more games. As such, Mbappé’s rate of 1.09 goals and assists per game is considerably higher than every single member of the top 20, with the second highest being Benzema (0.76 per game) and then Henry on 0.68.

So does that mean that Mbappé could overtake Benzema to claim top spot? At his current rate of 1.09 goals and assists per appearance, the numbers do suggest that the Madrid striker would need around 92 more games in the competitions noted earlier to pick up another 100 goals and assists. And when we then consider that the striker tends to average around 45 games per season, it would also suggest that Mbappé could become the highest-scoring French player of all time in the next two seasons. Which would not only be an impressive feat in itself, but even more so when we consider that he could feasibly achieve it before he turns 30 years of age in December 2028.