KYLIAN MBAPPÉ is sore. It's November, and last night Mbappé's Paris Saint-Germain fought out a bitter draw with Newcastle in the Champions League group stage at the Parc des Princes. Mbappé scored a penalty in stoppage time, rescuing a point after a frustrating team performance. But if he's sour about it, Mbappé doesn't show it, today dressed casually in a plain black T-shirt and a loose-fitting pastel-coloured Jordan tracksuit, a Hublot Big Bang One Click peeking out from the sleeve. "Football is a complex thing and you quickly forget the positive experiences as well as the negative ones," he tells me. "You always have to adapt and reinvent yourself."
A few post-game aches are standard for Mbappé, a player who, at 25, has somehow already played over 400 games at the summit of men's football. After breaking through as a teenage sensation at AS Monaco, Mbappé won the World Cup with France at just 19. In 2017, he moved to PSG for €180 million ($215 million), becoming one of the most expensive jewels in an all-star stacked team that for two seasons included Neymar and Lionel Messi. He is already Paris Saint-Germain's all-time top scorer; it seems likely that, sooner or later, he'll achieve the same status with the French national team. (Along the way he became the youngest player ever to reach the shortlist for the Ballon d'Or.)
This story is from the February - March 2024 edition of GQ India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February - March 2024 edition of GQ India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Finally, Women Are Breaking Up One of Luxury's Stuffiest Boys' Clubs
Dimepiece founder Brynn Wallner hosts a round table of leaders in the watch world to unpack the ascendant power of the female collector.
Can The Saudis Buy Soccerr?
Saudi Arabia is spending an unfathomable fortune to lure the biggest stars of global football (Ronaldo! Benzema! Neymar!) to its upstart league. So GQ ventured to the kingdom to discover what the gambit represents. Is this the future of the world's most popular sport? The vanguard of sportswashing? Or something way bigger?
CRACKING THE PERO CODE
Delhi-based label Péro is available in over 350 stores across the world. Shweta Shiware meets the reclusive founder and creative mastermind Aneeth Arora, arguably the Indian fashion industry's best storyteller.
Captain Mbappé
We met him as a teenage prodigy. Now, with his PSG teammates Messi and Neymar gone, and a new job as French national team captain, Kylian Mbappé is reckoning with the responsibilities and privileges that come with being the man.
The Full Ricky
Twenty-five years after becoming one of the most staggeringly famous men on the planet, a wiser, more assured Ricky Martin is taking another run at being a star. While also being himself, this time.
THE BOND
What does it mean to be a parent in this day and age? In GQ's annual series dedicated to fatherhood, we take a peek at the intimate relationships that some of the coolest dads share with their kids.
THE RATIONAL ACTOR
With a stream of critical and commercial successes under his belt, Vicky Kaushal is buoyant about what lies ahead in terms of work. Yet it is in his personal life that he has experienced the most transformation.
Standing TALL
Comedian and actor Vir Das speaks to GQ about winning an International Emmy for his Netflix special, codirecting his first movie, and the future of stand-up comedy in India.
Das Holistic
New York's desi rap star Heems's new album re-imagines the diasporic experience not as a site of endless ambivalence, but a place to be whole.
The Return of the Opulent '80s
The all-gold Piaget Polo, Hublot Classic Original, and Rolex GMT were kings during the '80s. Now they're coming back for their crown.