Kylian Mbappe says his partnership with Edinson Cavani and Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain will only get better.
This season the three-pronged attack has scored 38 of PSG’s 58 league goals and set a record tally of 25-group stage strikes in the Champions League, but Mbappe insists there is more to come.
“We know each other very well, but there is still some understanding that we can build up to know each other by heart,” Mbappe said at PSG’s winter training camp in Doha, Qatar.
“We have a super attack and I think we can do even better. We’ve been together five months, we have already managed to develop certain things and in a year it can be even better. I think we can do that quickly to do some great things with PSG.”
Mbappe added that playing with established world talents such as Neymar and Cavani can only help him maintain his astonishing development.
“It’s really incredible. I watch what they do to try and learn,” the former Monaco striker, who shot to prominence only last season, said. “When you have Cavani, who for me is the best striker in the world, and Neymar, who has everything to be the best player in the world, you have a lot to learn.
“I’m really proud to play alongside players like that.”
The trio’s performances have earned them global recognition. Cavani was 11th, Mbappe seventh and Neymar third in the recent 2017 Ballon d’Or poll won by Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Neymar has now twice finished on the podium in the vote and also been included in the top five on two occasions.
PSG defender Dani Alves told RMC he is confident his Brazil international teammate can claim the honour.
“I have no doubt that he has a great chance of winning it,” he said. “I often say ‘Ney’ will be what he wants to be. If he wants to become the best in the world, he’ll be it. If he wants to be in contention, he will be. If he doesn’t want to be, he won’t be.
“Everything will depend on what he’s going to offer us, the results he’s going to produce, and the preparation he will do to become what he wants to be. And I think he’s very close to the Ballon d’Or. The people around him are going to help him, help him achieve his objective next year.”
A close friend of Neymar, Alves has quickly established himself as a leading figure in PSG’s dressing room despite having only arrived from Juventus this summer.
He has considerable weight in the squad having won La Liga six times and the Champions League on three occasions, but he denied suggestions in the French media that he was the dominant figure — the “owner” — of the dressing room.
“If only I could be the ‘owner,'” he told RMC. “Nasser [Al Khelaifi] is the owner of PSG, not me. I think I have a natural leadership that allows me to direct a team. I have that ability. I always speak about the team, but I don’t consider myself the boss. Because the boss gives out orders, but I don’t order anything at all.
“I consider myself a natural leader who tries to put things over through actions. And the boss will never be up front. On the contrary, he’ll always be at the back. Me, no. I’m at the front ready to guide people, the team, so that it achieves its objectives.”
Ian is ESPN’s French football correspondent. Twitter: @ian_holyman