Manchester United’s Mbappe miss still hurts, but lessons appear to have been learned

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Kylian Mbappe is preparing to play in the Champions League final this weekend for the first time.

At the age of just 21, the French striker could have a Champions League medal to add to his World Cup winning one – if PSG can beat Bayern Munich on Saturday night.

Already Mbappe has an impressive 117 career goals to his name at club level.

It is a case of ‘what could have been’ for Manchester United. Former assistant boss Ryan Giggs told The Times in 2017 how he spent time scouting him and recommended the club snap him up.

Lamenting the failure to do so, Giggs explained: “I watched Gabriel Jesus play three years ago. I watched Mbappé for a year.

“I was watching them with the scout and it was a no-brainer.

“It was just like, ‘Get them.’ It would have been £5 million or something — get them, loan them back — and that’s where the recruitment could have been better.”

It is no secret that United’s recruitment policy has been a mess in recent seasons, and the Mbappe miss was one of the biggest. It was an oversight considering United also bought his then Monaco teammate Anthony Martial in 2015.

Have lessons been learned?

Over the past two or three years, United have been more active recruiting young players from abroad.

The moves are yet to bear fruit, although won’t be too far off. Tahith Chong was signed from Feyenoord and he is now on a loan at Werder Bremen which United hope will turn him into a star.

Last summer United did raid Monaco to buy teenager Hannibal Mejbri, in precisely the cheap type of deal Giggs recommended over Mbappe.

Mejbri looks like a star and at just 16 was impressing for the club’s under-23 side last season. He appears destined for the first team sooner rather than later.

Just last week it was claimed United are set to sign Partizan Belgrade winger Filip Stevanovic and loan him back to the Serbian side for a year [Republika].

If this deal does go ahead, then this will be the type of smart move Giggs lamented United not making.

There are other cheap talents signed from clubs abroad too, with promising striker Dillon Hoogewerf signed from Ajax last summer.

Alvaro Carreras is set to join from Real Madrid later this summer along with Marc Jurado from Barcelona, and Norwegian talent Isak Hansen-Aaroen from Tromso [MEN].

Young Spanish striker Mateo Mejia and French forward Noam Emeran are two goalscorers who United have high hopes for in the academy this season.

At least United are trying. Mbappe may be a once in a generation talent who United missed, regrettably.

But recent moves at academy level show United are making attempts to buy top talent early, and at cheap prices.

If just one of them gets close to Mbappe’s level, the investment will be worth it.

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