Mbappe's mother negotiated contract: Meet the 'Helicopter Mums' of sportsmen

While almost all mothers will be the first to tell you how proud they are of their sons, only a small handful can attest to having raised a superstar professional athlete - or in Judy Murray's case, two.

For an even smaller of them, they have played a crucial role in bolstering that success.

This can mean either behind the scenes in the boardroom, such as Adrian Rabiot and Kylian Mbappe's manager mums, or by providing vital emotional support.

But having a close relationship with a parent deeply involved in a child's career can come with its own pitfalls, either for the player - or themselves.

Here, Mail Sport looks at some of international sport's 'Helicopter Mums', and the impact they have had on their son's careers.

The Juventus star's mother-stroke-agent Veronique Rabiot has represented her son since the very start of his career, and by all accounts is a fearsome dealmaker.

After first helping Rabiot snare an eye-catching move to Paris Saint-Germain as a youth prospect, after brief stints at Manchester City, Creteil, and Pau, Veronique architected his lucrative move as a free agent to Juventus in the summer of 2019, pocketing £9million (€10m) for her work securing him a £5.9m-a-season (€7m) five-year-contract.

For her bombast in the boardroom, Veronique has been pigeonholed as the pushiest of parents, with Le Parisien suggesting that her influence over the 28-year-old is 'major and total' and that she 'imposes herself on him'. At the very start of his career, on-loan at Toulouse, the club is said to have rejected a request from Veronique to attend each one of her son's training sessions, and during his time at PSG, she is thought to have snuck into a training camp in Doha from which family members were banned.

Nor does she