There might not be too many football fans who would make a comparison between former footballer, Stan Collymore, and new Real Madrid Galactico, Kylian Mbappe.
However, both signed for new clubs – in Collymore’s case, Liverpool – when they were at the top of their game and really in their pomp.
Indeed, Collymore’s transfer to the Anfield outfit from Nottingham Forest was a British record at the time.
Therefore, it’s fair to say that he knows what it’s like to walk into a new dressing room and have people think you’re ‘the man.’
No one likes being the new guy at work, and Collymore seemed to get off on the wrong foot with some of his Reds team-mates.
He’s fired a warning to Mbappe too.
Collymore fires a warning to Kylian Mbappe
“They (Real Madrid players) won’t really care that he (Mbappe) was a Real Madrid fan as a kid or that he had Cristiano Ronaldo posters on his wall,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“Players like Dani Carvajal have been there, seen it, got the t shirt and so there’ll be two or three that will be looking at him and seeing how he is in the dressing room.
“As I was told when I joined Liverpool, ‘play the political game,’ because obviously, if he doesn’t, he’ll find things very different to Paris Saint-Germain on and off the pitch.
“When I went to Liverpool, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that within two or three weeks of signing and after all the happy, clapping, ‘hey, how you doing, do you want to come out with us for a beer and be our friend?’ kind of thing, that my team-mates thought I was some big time Charlie.
“I did an article for FourFourTwo in which I basically made a criticism of an industry that buys a player from a club (me), already knows what he does over a number of times that they watch him and then completely tries to change his natural game.
“It wasn’t meant to be ‘here I am, a British record signing, the best thing since sliced bread,’ it was that Liverpool’s way of working just made no sense to me.
“Liverpool knew how I played; get the ball into feet early, I could turn people. I could run at people, and if there’s space in behind, I could run behind.
“The late, great, Ronnie Moran said ‘look, Steven McManaman is the one that runs with the ball, Robbie Fowler is the man and Ian Rush is the fox in the box,’ so I had to completely reinvent my own game.
“I made a point in the article of saying ‘what other industry buys an asset only to completely change it?,’ and after that, there was kind of like a genuine, I wouldn’t say hostility, but a snideness from some players that wasn’t there before.
“So, Kylian Mbappe, who has been top dog and massively over indulged for so long, will have to fall in line fairly quickly, be humble and say the right things.
“If he doesn’t, there’ll only be problems down the road.”
Collymore’s insight certainly puts a decent perspective on the issues that the French World Cup winner could face.
As good a player as he is, Vini Jr. and Jude Bellingham et al are unlikely to let him bowl into the Santiago Bernabeu like he owns the place.
He’ll need to earn that respect on and off the pitch, and if he manages to do so he could well become yet another legendary player to have worn the all white.