European Team of the Season: Striker - Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)

With Neymar succumbing to his second serious injury in as many years at Paris Saint-Germain, Kylian Mbappe was given the chance to become the main man at the Parc des Princes this season. The Ligue 1 champions ultimately failed in Europe but did wrap up their sixth league title in seven years. For Mbappe, he has now won the league three years in a row, spreading those championships across his time at Monaco and PSG. At the age of 20, he is already a multi-league and World Cup winner.

Statistically speaking, the 2018/19 campaign is by far and away the best season in Mbappe’s young career. The PSG striker (33 goals) finished only behind Lionel Messi (36) in the race for the Golden Shoe in Europe’s top five leagues. Factoring in Mbappe’s assists, the PSG No.7 played a direct hand in 40 league goals in just 29 league games this season.

To put Mbappe’s remarkable goalscoring record into perspective, the France international is the first player aged 21 and under since Ronaldo in 1997 to score 30 goals in a single league campaign in one of Europe’s top five leagues. Mbappe only failed to play a direct hand in a league goal in two of his 25 starts this season.