Cristiano Ronaldo has given a glowing endorsement of Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe.
The Juventus forward, who is still recognised as one of the world's finest players at the age of 35, believes the 21-year-old Frenchman is the future of football.
Ronaldo is no stranger to being a young superstar himself, bursting onto the scene with Manchester United at the age of 18.
More than 250 appearances, three Premier League titles, a Champions League and his first Ballon d'Or later, Ronaldo sealed a world record £80million move to Real Madrid.
Since then Ronaldo has gone on to win four more Champions League and Ballon d'Or gongs and is now breaking records at Juventus.
Mbappe has enjoyed a similar rise at the early stage in his career, propelling himself globally with electric performances for Monaco before moving to Paris Saint-Germain for £130m plus add ons. Since then he has scored 84 goals in 116 performances and won back-to-back Ligue 1 titles.
"Mbappe is the future and the present," Ronaldo said, as per Marca .
"He's a fantastic player, very fast, and he will be the future."
The France international has spoken highly of both Ronaldo and Lionel Messi but has claimed it is too late for him to emulate the latter's career in football.
"It's too late for me to carve out a career like Messi's, I would have had to stay at Monaco," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport .
"Without taking anything away from Messi, now I have to draw on Cristiano's career for inspiration.
"If you're French, obviously you would have grown up with [Zinedine] Zidane as your idol. After that, it was Cristiano, who I have been fortunate enough to have faced as an opponent, at club level and with the national team."
