Kylian Mbappe is one of the hottest and most renowned people in the world of sports, and he has his mother Fayza Lamari to thank for that.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup winner has had an eventful career full of controversies and his mother has played quite an influential role over his decision-making process.
Lamari is herself an ex-sportsperson – having played professional handball for the France national handball team and also for Division 1 side AS Bondy handball club in the 1990s.
49-year-old Fayza Lamari is of Algerian origin, and a proud mother of Kylian and his two brothers – Ethan Mbappe and the oldest adoptive brother Jires Kembo Ekoko.
AS Bondy’s former president Jean-Louis Kimmoun spoke of her brilliant handball career and said –
She was a symbolic figure of the handball club of Bondy. She grew up just opposite our playing hall and many of her brothers played for the club. On the court, she was a fighter and sometimes things got quite rough when she met her opponents. Many of them remember playing against Fayza.
However, soon after the birth of Kylian in 1998, Fayza opted to retire from her sporting career to focus more on the family and helping her children fulfil their ambitions.
She moved on from a sporting role to more of a ‘desk’ job in helping Kylian make the right choices and develop into a world-class talent.
She knew her boy was going to make it
In fact, the first club that Mbappe joined to kick-start his football career was AS Bondy’s football team after his mother gained popularity for her successful handball career at the club and would also later join in an administrative role – while her now ex-husband and Kylian’s dad Wilfrid Mbappe worked as a football coach.
It was Wilfrid who actually coached Kylian in his years at AS Bondy, but Fayza worked hard behind-the-scenes to ensure that his ability and potential was spotted by major clubs around the world.
After realizing her son’s potential, Fayza created a persona of a tough negotiator from the get-go and dished out a strict ultimatum to Chelsea after his trial run with the club at the age of 14.
Former Chelsea scout Daniel Boga recalls –
Chelsea said, ‘We want to see him again and we want to see this part of his football’.
But then the mum said, ‘No, we won’t come again’. I was translating. ‘She said, “Tell them, he won’t come back. If you want to sign him, you sign him now”.
And she said, ‘In five years’ time, you will come back for him for £50 million’. She said, ‘Translate that.’ She was really confident. She knew her boy was going to make it. I don’t know how, but she knew it. So she was relaxed. Every time, she told me, ‘Daniel, don’t worry. My boy, he will make it.’ She didn’t know how big he would make it. But for sure she knew he would make it.
Ultimately, Fayza’s prophecy for her son came true and she opted to enroll him into the AS Monaco academy in 2013.
Kylian spent two years at the academy before playing for Monaco’s reserve team as a teenager and then ascending to the first-team, whom he inspired to win the 2016/17 Ligue 1 title.
Kylian is very grateful to his mother for helping him in his career and is also extremely close to her, as he recalled in an interview before the 2018 FIFA World Cup –
I tell her everything — even (about) my girlfriends! She knows everything. She’s my confidante. We have the same tastes. She takes pictures and sends them to me. But often she buys without asking me — and she’s not mistaken. We have a real bond for that, too.
He had become Justin Bieber
Fayza might’ve been tough about choosing the right club for Mbappe’s development, but actually grew scared after Kylian’s incredible 2016/17 season when he scored 26 goals for Monaco.
She recalls that period and said –
I wondered what was going on. He had become Justin Bieber — and that scared me. Between (the two matches against) Manchester City (in February and March 2017) and his transfer to PSG (at the end of the summer transfer window), I gained 24kg. At the beginning, it is very difficult because you are not prepared for that.
But after that initial intense phase, Fayza grew more comfortable in handing Kylian’s ‘business’ and also hired a female lawyer in Delphine Verheyden.
Then came 2017 when Mbappe earned his blockbuster move to Paris Saint-Germain – marking the beginning of a gigantic rise to his commercial product.
Lamari worked behind-the-shadows to help him bag lucrative commercial deals and also set up a small company to look after his commercial deals called KEWJF (Kylian, Ethan, Wilfrid, Jires, Fayza). In 2021, this company is reported to have a turnover of over £10 million, a figure guaranteed to go up.
It’s her family and her money
The actual limelight on Fayza was placed in 2022 when his contract with PSG was about to expire and he flirted with a ‘dream’ move to Real Madrid.
Lamari made her son keep PSG waiting and run down the contract for the final few months before PSG were forced to pay him a whopping £34 million-a-year salary. The Spanish heavyweights, meanwhile, were left red-faced after being convinced he’d join them.
In an interview with Le Parisien before that deal was signed, Fayza piled the pressure on PSG by hinting that Mbappe dreamed of a move to Real Madrid. She said –
Wanting to leave doesn’t mean you hate the place where you currently are. Picking between PSG and Real Madrid was almost like picking between your parents for Kylian. Kylian’s father and I are advisors. When he wanted to go to Real Madrid, his dad didn’t want to, and I was telling him to go until Paris 2024, but Kylian had his reasons. And when he has his reasons, you go with him.
Kylian’s father wanted him to stay at PSG, and me and his lawyer wanted him to leave. But none of us decides. It’s up to him. I understand that PSG fans aren’t happy, but Kylian has dreams, the dream to play for PSG but also for Real Madrid.
Fayza ended up bullying the PSG hierarchy with her mind games and forced them to pay that kind of a huge wage package for a two-year contract extension in 2022.
Kylian now seems primed for a move to Real Madrid after becoming a free agent later this year, where he’ll get a major pay day from the Spanish club.
When it comes to describing Lamari the person and football negotiator, a source close to her told the Athletic –
She (Lamari) is one of the most powerful people in football because she has an unbeatable product. And she’s very clever. She has understood everything. She has no background as an agent, but she is very smart about life.
She listens and, if she understands the other person’s arguments, she appreciates them and knows how to be guided. She has a lawyer (Verheyden) who explains everything to her and she sets the strategy. She played with two of the most powerful clubs in the world to get the best deal for her son. It’s her family and her money. She lives for it. She defends her son a lot, so he can’t reproach her for anything.
Fayza has also played a key role in significantly boosting her son’s image. She played a key role in the establishment of the charity brand Inspired by KM – which promises to change the lives of 98 young Parisian children – and wanted Kylian to set this up to further improve his image and reputation in France.
She also spoke about basically bullying Kylian to reserve 30% of his earnings for the foundation, saying –
(Mbappe told me) I’m never ever going to give it to you [50 per cent]. ‘What’s wrong with you? I’m the one who scores the goals and do you want to take half of it?’
Yes, it’s true. You are very good but we are a team and we value what you do for your own good. I don’t mind working 23 hours-a-day for you but the only thing I can do is what I enjoy [which] is with IBKM [The foundation Mbappe has that works to help children]. Either you give me 30 per cent or I’m going to the Maldives.
Ultimately, Kylian caved into the demands and reached the compromise. Being his agent, Fayza also gets a cut from every commercial deal he agrees to.
Even though Fayza Lamari’s net worth is rumoured to be just $1 million, she obviously has much more than that because whatever Mbappe earns ends up staying in the family itself.
