Departing Mbappe backs Dembele to become Ligue 1´s best

Kylian Mbappe backed Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Ousmane Dembele to fill his boots when he exits the club, after winning his fifth successive Ligue 1 Player of the Year award.

The France captain announced last week he will leave the Ligue 1 champions at the end of this season after seven years at the Parc des Princes, during which he became their all-time top scorer with 256 goals.

Mbappe has been heavily linked with a blockbuster move to LaLiga champions Real Madrid, but has thus far remained tight-lipped on where his future lies.

Either way, when he departs the club, the 25-year-old is confident his void can be filled by compatriot Dembele, who arrived from Barcelona last August and has recorded the joint-most assists during his maiden French top-flight campaign, with eight.

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“I have shared and played with incredible players, like Dembele who is here, he is a friend and one day he will pick up this award,” Mbappe said at the ceremony, where he extended his record haul of Player of the Year crowns.

“I thank the club as a whole, the coach, who has helped me and trusted me, his staff, the doctors, all the people at the club, the sporting management, the president, the shareholders of the club. I have always tried to do my best.

“Now, I’m turning the page in my life. Everything that comes next is super exciting, but that’s another subject.

“I know that it was very important to my father that I made history in Ligue 1 before I left. I think that, with humility, I have done everything [he] wanted.”