Arsene Wenger likened him to Thierry Henry - but who is Arsenal target Kylian Mbappe?

The Gunners tried to sign him in the summer but Mbappe decided to stay at Monaco

Mbappe has spent time at Chelsea and Real Madrid in his youth (Getty)

Arsene Wenger is not given to glib comparisons so it was surprising when he said on Friday morning that he saw something of a young Thierry Henry in Kylian Mbappe, the brilliant teenage forward at Monaco who he tried to sign last summer.

Wenger, of course, brought through a young Henry at Monaco in the early 1990s and then signed him for Arsenal in 1999, turning him into one of the greatest players of the Premier League era. He has seen something similar in Mbappe, the young Parisian who has been attracting the attention of the world’s biggest clubs, including Arsenal.

“Mbappe has similarities to Thierry Henry,” Wenger said at his press conference on Friday morning. “He has a huge talent. He plays for Monaco and Thierry Henry played for Monaco. When I was in Monaco I could see with Thierry Henry similarities. But of course after that, what makes the career after is the mental aspect that Thierry had. This young boy has to show that he has similar qualities on the mental front that Thierry had.”

Wenger admitted that he tried to sign Mbappe last season but the teenager decided to stay in Monaco. He is not the first manager of a big team to try to tempt Mbappe out of France and he will certainly not be the last.

"Well, I approached him last year because I really believe that he has an exceptional future ahead of him, that he has all the qualities.

"I think he’s an exceptional talent who promises to have a great future. Unfortunately today, all these young players are in full view from very, very early on and all the big clubs want them.

"I hope the fact that everybody is already talking of nobody but him isn’t going to have a negative impact on his future.”

Chelsea took Mbappe on trial when he was just 11, and he even played in a junior game there against a Charlton Athletic side. He still proudly has the Chelsea shirt with ‘KYLIAN 10’ on from that day. In December 2012, in the week Mbappe turned 14, he spent a week at Real Madrid, organised by Zinedine Zidane. He loved the experience but decided with his father not to sign for Real Madrid in the end.

Mbappe’s father is Wilfrid, who grew up coaching his son at AS Bondy, the local team in the eastern suburb of Paris where Kylian grew up. Kylian was running around with a football from as soon as he could walk and when he started playing for AS Bondy at under-8s, he was so good that opponents claimed he could not part of their age group.

Although he was always small for his age, Mbappe stood out for his speed and skill, which is how scouts from across the world knew about him. He was soon part of the set-up at Clairefontaine, the famous French training centre, and attracting interest from top teams at home and abroad. He could have signed for whoever he chose but he went to Monaco, just ahead of Caen, in 2013, attracted to the youth development programme.

Mbappe caught Wenger's eye in the summer (Getty)

Monaco do not spend as much money on players as they used to but they remain committed to signing the best French talent and selling them on at a profit. That is what they did with Anthony Martial and the expectation now is that they will do the same with Mbappe. He is a brilliant forward who was only 16 when he made his Monaco debut and has impressed since with his instinctive movement and final-third power.

The question is when Mbappe will leave, not if, and even though Anthony Martial has struggled to impress Jose Mourinho, England is still his likeliest destination. Chelsea and Arsenal have tried before but both Manchester clubs will be keen if they think they can tempt him away this summer. And, like Martial in 2015, he will not be cheap.