Ever since he led France to glory at the 2018 World Cup, has been anointed as and Cristiano Ronaldo's eventual successor on the pitch.
Off the pitch, however, no one perhaps expected the Frenchman to overtake the soccer greats with the speed in which he has after the 23-year-old was named by as the world's highest-paid soccer player.
According to Forbes, the Paris Saint-Germain forward will earn an estimated US$128 million for the 2022-23 season before agents' fees, a record in the magazine's annual rankings.
Messi, 35, drops to second at US$120 million, with Manchester United's Ronaldo, 37, third on US$100 million.
For the first time in eight years, neither Messi nor Ronaldo top the list.
PSG and Brazil's Neymar (US$87 million) is fourth, Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah (US$53 million) fifth, while Manchester City's Erling Haaland (US$39 million) debuts in the top 10 in sixth.
In total, the 10 highest paid soccer players are expected to collect record earnings worth US$652 million this season, up 11% from last year's $585 million.
