The Thierry Henry v Kylian Mbappe debate has been solved - forever

With star French forward Kylian Mbappe set to leave PSG at the end of the season and reports suggesting he might be keen to follow in the footsteps of Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, a Reddit user has compared their stats on Football Manager.

The 25-year-old star striker has said he will leave the French giants when his contract runs out at the end of the season, with speculation since swirling as to where he will go next.

Real Madrid are reported to be the front-runners for his signature, but that didn't stop Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta from throwing the Gunners' hat into the ring, saying they 'have to be in the conversation' to sign him.

And Reddit user likeastar20 has posted a comparison of Henry's stats in Football Manager 2008 and Mbappe's in the most recent 2024 edition in the Football Manager Games subreddit.

The 2008 edition covered the 2007/8 season, when Henry had just left Arsenal for Barcelona.

Of the 35 attributes that can be directly compared, Henry leads the way in 22 of them, with Mbappe rating higher in six, and seven tied.

Both French forwards have the maximum rating of 20 in both the acceleration and pace stats, with Henry leading in finishing, technique and work rate.

But Mbappe is higher in a number of key areas for a forward, such as dribbling, composure and decisions, with a value of one or less between the two in 20 areas.

The comparison has led to a number of users commenting with their analysis.

Potato271 commented: "Very similar spread of stats all in all. Henry's are a smidge higher, but they lowered stats on average at some point to deal with monsters like Messi and CR7 (Cristiano Ronaldo) right?"

greenfrogwallet commented: "Ain’t this Barcelona Henry? Aka a bit out of his prime 'damn this Messi kid and Eto’o are so good, imma take a back seat and play a supporting role' Henry," to which likeastar20 replied: "yes, but I used this one because I don’t like the UI of previous versions."

The post has also split users as to who is the better of the two.

DilshadZhou commented: "So Mbappe is basically a regen? I always thought so."

doitnow10 commented: "Considering attributes being overall lower in modern FM games, Mbappe is the better player."

Icy_Collar_1072 commented: "For me prime Henry is superior to Mbappe. I’m surprised about those mental stats as Henry had ice in his veins and mentally feel he’s way ahead of Mbappe in that regard."

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