Kylian Mbappe is a "phenomenon" but should stay at Monaco for another season as he will get regular first-team football with the Ligue 1 champions, according to Valere Germain.
Mbappe is a reported target for elite European clubs including Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain after hitting 15 league goals and impressing in the Champions League in a breakthrough season, with a world-record fee mooted for the 18-year-old.
But Germain – who left Monaco for Marseille this month – suggested the Stade Louis II may be the best place for Mbappe, who made his France debut against Luxembourg in March.
"If he stays in Monaco, it may be the right choice because he will continue to play and grow in this club," Germain told French radio station RMC.
"After that he will probably have the chance to go to a big club this summer, it can also be good. So it's up to him to see if he feels ready to go, but he still has a lot of talent to succeed right now in a very, very big club."
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Germain insisted he is not bitter about Mbappe's emergence resulting in him becoming surplus to requirements at Monaco, where he had spent his whole professional career, barring a loan spell at Nice.
"I am very satisfied with my season. I must not forget that I was in the team until mid-February when Kylian began to explode and at the end of March because [Radamel] Falcao was injured," said Germain.
"After that it was a little more complicated, with a little less play time, but I still played 60 games out of 63. I started 40, so those who say I did not make a season as a regular in Monaco did not necessarily see these stats.
"So I am very happy, in addition we became league champions and that will remain engraved in each of the players."
Germain continued: "If it had been a good Ligue 1 striker, it might have bothered me, but it's a player – I do not know how much his transfer will be, estimated to be over €100million – he's a phenomenon.
"If he had been at any Ligue 1 club or in Europe, he would certainly have taken the place of the attacker in the team, so that reassures me a little."
Mbappe appears to have sent a message to his suitors by changing the header on his Twitter profile to an image of himself in front of an advertising board that reads 'Priceless'.
