At Real Madrid they started the wooing at 14 years old. And they deployed the man who was effectively their ambassador in chief for young French players, although now he is their coach.
Zinedine Zidane took the time to show Kylian Mbappe around Real's training facilities when the boy came to visit. He is 18 now and football's most-wanted teenager.
So although Arsenal have done well with Mbappe, having started their pursuit 18 months ago, they are lagging behind Real Madrid.
Gallingly for Arsenal, they were seemingly close to persuading him to come to London last summer for what would have been about £230,000 under FIFA compensation rules.