The legendary NBA superstar is not known as much of a football fan but has praised Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi on multiple occasions as he was asked his World Cup final prediction

LeBron James has made the interesting claim that 23-year-old Kylian Mbappe is one of the greatest football players ever.

Mbappe is preparing for his second World Cup final on Sunday afternoon, with France set to take on Lionel Messi’s Argentina, who plays in his second final but without a trophy.

It’s the first time that the two countries have met since the previous World Cup, when France knocked Argentina out in the last 16 in a thrilling 4-3 win, with Mbappe being the man of the moment in that fixture – scoring the last two goals to send France through, before they went on to win the World Cup.

And ahead of the two countries meeting again on Sunday, Los Angeles Lakers superstar was asked who he believes will take home the most prized football trophy.

When asked to pick his winner, the 37-year-old chose not to give an answer, but instead spoke on the Paris St-Germain teammates and how much of an admirer of both he is, before giving somewhat of a bold take.

He said: “I’m not gonna chose. Umm, what time is the match? ‘7 am.’ 7 am, okay, cool. So I can get up and watch it. I just want to see a great match like the rest of the world, besides who’s ever rooting for friends or Argentina; so we’ll see.

James named Mbappe one of the greatest players of all time

“I mean, it’s gonna be a great one, and look forward to seeing, you know, two of the greatest who have ever played that sport go at it. It’ll be fun.”

Whilst Mbappe has a World Cup to his name already, and can certainly be argued to be one of the best players in the game alongside the likes of Messi and Erling Haaland, to name a 23-year-old as the greatest ever seems a bit of a stretch.

Despite being part owner of Liverpool FC, James is not known of much of a football fan. He was seen at the most recent Champions League final though, when Real Madrid defeated Liverpool.

James is also known to have a friendship with Mbappe, with the two pictured on a number of occasions, whilst being the faces of Nike in football and basketball.