Kylian Mbappe’s curious nickname originated when he first joined PSG on loan from Monaco in 2017. It quickly caught on among his teammates.

Most football players have nicknames—terms of endearment, descriptors of their qualities, physical attributes, or resemblances. Some players have had nicknames since childhood, perhaps from playing football with friends in the park or at school. Sometimes, nicknames that come later in a player’s life may be given by teammates or by a journalist in an article. For one reason or another, they tend to stick with star players.

Famous football nicknames

Nicknames for football players are particularly common in South America, especially in Mexico and Argentina. Who can forget Cristian Rodríguez: El Cebolla (The Onion), Javier Mascherano: El Jefecito (The Little Boss), Ángel Di María: El Fideo (The Noodle), Claudio López: Piojo (Louse), Ivan de la Pena: El Pequeno Buda (The Little Buddha).

There have been some notable names in recent years – The King (O Rei – Pelé), Saint Iker (Casillas), The Golden Arrow (Di Stéfano), Bam Bam (Iván Zamorano), The Kid – El Nino (Fernando Torres), Tarzan (Carles Puyol)…

Ole Gunner Solskjaer, the hero of Manchester United’s 1999 Champions League triumph over Bayern, is nicknamed the Baby-faced Assassin, Atletico’s coach Diego Simeone is El Cholo. And just to make it easy to understand, César Azpilicueta is simply called Dave during his time at Chelsea, while Louis van Gaal carelessly referred to Chris Smalling as Mike.

Sergio Aguero’s nickname is Kun – a term of endearment in Japanese. During his time at Manchester City, he explained in an interview with the BBC that his grandparents called him Kum-Kum because he resembled the main character in the Japanese animated series from the 1970s, Wanpaku Omukashi Kumu Kumu.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Kylian Mbappe has only recently acquired this nickname. The 25-year-old French forward is known as Donatello because he resembles the easygoing, rebellious member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – a smart and creative ninja. Mbappe’s resemblance to Donatello was first noticed by his PSG teammate Presnel Kimpembe shortly after he joined the club from Monaco in 2017. This nickname quickly caught on among the rest of the dressing room, and Mbappe humorously embraced it.

Some of his PSG teammates have playfully teased him on social media over the years – both Dani Alves and Neymar have posted pictures resembling the Ninja Turtles from related comic books, while Thiago Silva surprised him with a gift after a match shortly after joining PSG – a plastic Ninja Turtle mask delicately packaged in a Dior box.