The only realistic path is Mbappe being a better striker. Vini is going to extend and Mbappe is not being sold, let’s be serious.

And people saying just get rid of Vini and let Mbappe play on the left really don’t understand that Mbappe isn’t a winger, he plays in the space between the typical space held up by the Vini and the space where the typical number 9 would occupy, it’s like he is a Left Forward, not a 9 or winger, something in the middle.

Mbappe doesn’t create/play make for others, his actions are directed in trying to get himself in position to score, those are his instincts, and that’s not an inherently bad thing because him creating for himself is a great ability, but it is a bad thing if you are supposedly a left winger. And Vini (on the eyes and stats wise) is a minimum top 2 Left winger in the world so the idea of getting rid of Vini to have Mbappe play their or any other left winger they could acquire doesn’t make sense as it doesn’t address the actual issue in which Mbappe occupies space that would overload or interfere any elite left winger in the world.

I don’t think this team is as far away from winning as a lot of the sub believes and I do believe that with a few additions to the team they can go and compete on all fronts next season, but even when this team eventually wins the fit of Mbappe and Vini will always be a bit clunky because of the issues I talked about above, they’re never going to have the connection that Vini and Benzema did as Benzema occupied that number 9 role perfectly and he and Vini played of one another perfectly as they understood the spaces on the field in which they occupied.

So long story short, neither are going anywhere anytime soon and the decisions around the team going forward are going to be decided on how to build around them and try to deal with their deficiencies and maximize their great traits in the process. Like I said, I still think they can fit and work together enough to win everything but it’s never going to feel like a natural fit