Julien hadn't expected to influence Kylian so deeply. He patted Kylian's shoulder and said. "Keep it up."
He then asked, "You should be leaving Clairefontaine next year, right? How's it going? Where are you planning to go? With your talent, quite a few teams should have contacted you."
At that moment, Ethan popped up from somewhere, speaking in his childish voice but with complete seriousness, "Kylian wants to go to Real Madrid!"
Julien looked at Ethan with amusement, while Kylian had already covered Ethan's mouth, and his ears were turning red. Knowing his little brother well, Kylian knew he was about to reveal some embarrassing stories.
Sure enough, Ethan broke free from Kylian and quickly said, "Jirès and Ricardi always say that when Kylian was four, he would put his hand on his chest and sing 'La Marseillaise,' and when he was six or seven, he already said that one day he would definitely represent France in the World Cup... mmph!"
Kylian covered Ethan's mouth again, looking embarrassed at Julien. "They're just making that up. It's not true... I don't even remember anything from back then."
"Mmph mmph mmph!" Ethan struggled hard.
Telling his brother's embarrasing stories in front of others excited him, and after breaking free again, he inherited Fayza's speech pattern and spoke nonstop enthusiastically.
"It's absolutely true! That's exactly what he said! Jirès and Ricardi can testify! He said he wanted to win the Ballon d'Or, he wanted to become a professional player, he wanted to go to Real Madrid, he wanted to be like Jirès and go to Clairefontaine, then to Rennes, and then to the national team. He wanted to become the world's best player!"
Ethan stopped talking—this time Kylian had truly subdued his brother.
However, Jirès, who had come in to call them for dinner, heard the commotion and suddenly spoke from behind Kylian, startling him.
"Haha, yes, Ethan's right. I can testify. All of Kylian's U10 teammates should remember this. They all wanted him to shut up because Kylian was too talkative and couldn't stop.
After listening, we all laughed. Many people thought Kylian was daydreaming, but we family members all knew about the talent Kylian had—we believed in him and believe in him."
This was the first time Julien had heard these stories about Mbappé's past, and he laughed while giving him a thumbs up.
Ethan had been released from Mbappé's grip, but he didn't speak because Jirès hadn't stopped either.
"Look, his bedroom used to be full of Cristiano posters. He loved that early Real Madrid Cristiano—the one who was lightning fast, flying down the left wing. Kylian would watch every single one of Cristiano's matches without fail, then go practice imitating him."
Jirès pointed to several of Julien's posters among the collection.
"But now Kylian has added you to his idols. Julien, you're very strong, and I know that what you've shown so far is nowhere near your limit."
"Thank you." Julien nodded slightly.
"However..." Jirès looked at Kylian, whose ears had turned completely red, and said to Julien with a laugh, "I hope next time you dribble, you could make the moves a bit easier, a little simpler. Haha, Kylian has tripped and fallen several times trying to imitate your moves."
"Five times! I saw five times!" Ethan delivered the final blow.
Mbappé had completely given up, shrugging at Julien. "Yes, I'm studying your dribbling style, but I can't make it as smooth as you do."
"You're already excellent enough. Perhaps in the future we'll become teammates on the national team."
Hearing Julien's words, hope lit up in Mbappé's eyes. He couldn't help but imagine himself on the left wing and Julien on the right wing, both wings attacking the opponent together.
After chatting briefly, it was time for dinner.
The Ricqlef couple from downstairs had brought some food to join the Wilfried family for dinner. They were mainly curious about Julien.
This was a French national team player! Even if he hadn't officially played yet, he was still someone who had been selected for the national team.
"Fontaine-aux-Oiseaux, oh, I remember that place. It's not far from Paris, next to Saint-Denis."
"Oh! Your parents are remarkable—six children!"
The casual conversation, gradually guided by Julien, turned into exploring Mbappé's childhood—and Fayza was very willing to share these memories.
"From the kitchen, you can see the Léo Lagrange Stadium. That's been Kylian and Jirès's favorite place since they were little."
"Wilfried was a youth coach at Bondy. Originally, he didn't want to coach Kylian, but when Kylian was six, he still joined the Bondy youth academy. His first coach was his father."
"PSG, Bordeaux, and Caen are all contacting us now, wanting to sign a priority agreement with Kylian. When he turns 15, they'll officially sign a professional contract. I'm not bragging, but Kylian is really recognized by many scouts now."
"Oh, last year we even went to the Cobham training facility. Kylian stayed there for a week and even played a match against Charlton U12 representing the team."
Hearing this, Julien was somewhat surprised. "So, you're not considering Chelsea?"
Fayza shook her head. "Chelsea is great. We even met Ancelotti and saw Drogba—they all really liked Kylian. But ultimately, we felt that going to Chelsea would be too big a step. We want to stay in France and find a team that can provide stable development for Kylian."
Julien nodded, agreeing with Fayza's approach.
He himself had lost many match opportunities because he had taken too big a step.
For young players, match opportunities were the most important thing.
Too many talented players had their careers ruined by poor career planning, sitting on the bench at big clubs until they lost all their spark. There were countless such examples.
"We're probably going to choose between Lens and Caen, but I'm more inclined toward Caen. They're willing to offer over a hundred thousand euros as a signing fee, which would be enough for us to rent a nice place in Paris."
Julien mostly just listened, not offering any so-called advice. Even when Fayza asked him directly, he knew she was just being polite.
Mbappé's parents had a very clear plan for his future. They didn't need his input.
After the meal, everyone was satisfied.
When Julien was leaving, the Ricqlef couple wanted his autograph.
Julien politely declined, saying his signature was currently too ugly, promising to make it up to them later. For now, a group photo would be sufficient.
And so, a photo that had never existed before was born: Julien, Wilfried, Fayza, Kylian Mbappé, Ethan, Jirès, and the Ricqlef couple.
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