Fresh Baked Takes - Week 4

Kylian Mbappé has been the Best Young Player and it's not even close

Future Ballon D'Or Winner Kylian Mbappé

Kylian Mbappé is already the most expensive teenager in football history, and after a season waltzing to the title in France with PSG, he's showing his worth on a worldwide scale. I don't say this lightly, but the French national football team need to build around him for the foreseeable future. He's the most important player in that side. Not Griezmann, not Pogba, not even Kanté, although he's probably second. Mbappé's blistering pace has struck fear into defences all tournament, coupled with the passing range of Paul Pogba has been one of the more terrifying prospects to gameplan against. Mbappé running in behind defences, even when he doesn't receive the ball, opens up space for the more intricate play between the likes of Giroud, Pogba, and Griezmann to take place in front of the opposition, with the flying teenager always looking to get in behind or isolate his man in a one-on-one situation, where he is absolutely deadly. France need to make sure that this youngster doesn't lose his love of running at defenders at pace. And as much as he might prefer to play through the middle, his place on the wing in this system for France has been a stroke of genius from Deschamps, and it is where he should stay until such a time that the national team can accommodate his skillset through the middle.

The Home Run Derby is going to be BORING as hell

Who is this man?

Here's the names of the eight players competing in the Home Run Derby at this year's All-Star Event in Washington DC; Jesus Aguilar, Bryce Harper, Max Muncy, Alex Bregman, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez, Freddie Freeman, Rhys Hoskins. 4 of the competitors have fewer than 20 home runs through the first half of the season, with Hoskins not even in the top 50 in the league with just 14. 5 of the seeds have fewer than 50 career home runs, which is no real measure of ability as Aaron Judge hit 44 in last year's competition, but the only real recognised slugger in the field is Bryce Harper. There's no sign of league leader JD Martinez, or famed sluggers Giancarlo Stanton (22HR this year), Mike Trout and Judge (25), and Nolan Arenado (23). The best matchup in the first round is #2 Bryce Harper vs #7 Freddie Freeman, which doesn't come close to last year's #1 v #8 of Stanton v Sanchez. I'd even go so far as to say that only Bryce Harper would even have made it into last year's contest on name alone. I mean, I'm obviously going to watch the Derby, because I love watching dingers fly in all directions, but I don't think it's going to be nearly as jaw-dropping as last year.

The England team has 2 World Class Players

It's Coming Home (2022 edition) - Raz ft. Harry Kane

Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling. That's it. No arguments please. Sterling has been roundly criticised by the media and fans for his performances at the World Cup, often ranking among the lowest rated England players on the BBC Player Rater (which is a dumb metric because generally people watching the games want tangible results [tackles, goals, assists]). Sterling does more than that. Sure, he was incredible for Man City this season with 18 goals and 11 assists in 29 starts, but in the system employed by Gareth Southgate, Sterling has been so much more than goals and assists. The best way to explain it can be found here, and verbalises everything I'm trying to say. Sterling is England's best player, and the fact that he hasn't scored for the national team since October 2015 shouldn't be a point of criticism for a player whose cerebral abilities very nearly match his physical ones. The next world class player hurts for me to admit, but Harry Kane's all-round play for club and country has pushed him into the top tier of striking talent in the world alongside the likes of Lewandowski and Agüero (Ronaldo is a different level, he doesn't count here). Kane's ability to do anything asked of him makes him the ultimate Swiss Army Knife striker. If you need him to hold the ball up, he'll boss centre backs physically. If you need him to pull away and create space inside for midfielders, he'll pull off a perfectly weighted one-two to help out. I genuinely just had a vision of Kane playing for Manchester City with Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling, and Sané and as a fan of not Man City it was not pleasant. That would be scary shit. But above all, Kane's ability to find the back of the net in any way possible is his biggest asset. If there was one player in the Premier League that you had to back to score a penalty to save your life, mine would be Kane, and that's saying something when Mark Noble is the captain of my club.