Kylian Mbappe has revealed he encouraged Ousmane Dembele to join Barcelona, and told footmercato.net his friend can become a great player alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, ESPN FC's Paris Saint-Germain correspondent Jonathan Johnson reports.
Dembele joined Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund for a fee of €105m, plus add-ons, coming in to replace Neymar who joined PSG shortly before Mbappe. The France international was bought to fill the void left at the Nou Camp by Neymar's €222m world-record switch to Paris Saint-Germain, but Mbappe believes Dembele has all the attributes to take on that challenge.
Also read: Vincent Janssen: Turkish club Fenerbahce agree deal in principle with Tottenham Hotspur for striker
Among a number of other things he discussed after being unveiled by his new club, Mbappe admits he also had a hand in Dembele's final decision on his future this summer.
"We talked about it and he asked me what I thought. I told him not to think twice about going there because it was a great opportunity for him," Mbappe told Foot Mercato.
"He can really become a great player alongside Messi and Suarez in attack. He's really going to improve.
"He already has incredible talent, but he can make another step up."
Both players are among the biggest prospects in world football right now and their futures dominated headlines for much of the summer, but Mbappe thinks his friend Dembele could really elevate his game alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in Barcelona, according to Marca.
Mbappe, who himself joined Paris Saint-Germain on loan from AS Monaco on the last week of the transfer window, hails from Paris, and was raised as a PSG supporter and the player has made no secret of that fact.
The Ligue 1 giants also emphasised his long-standing affection for his childhood club during his unveiling at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.
Growing up as a PSG fan, Mbappe said that Ronaldinho was his idol when he was younger.
In addition, Mbappe has also revealed that he could have joined Arsenal before he ended up at the Parc des Princes, as per the Metro.
Mbappe said Arsene Wenger is a great coach with a great reputation in France.
"He compared me to Pele, the king of football, which is really incredible."
Nevertheless, the opportunity to return home to Paris appeared to be too good to turn down.
That was not the original plan for Mbappe, however, as he wanted to stay at Monaco before changing his mind later in the window.
