Kylian Mbappe prepared for Real Madrid

The long-running saga of Kylian Mbappe’s split from PSG appears to be coming to an end. Several sources reported that in the summer the famous French forward will still move from the Parisian club to Real Madrid, where he wanted to be back in 2022.

Kylian Mbappe, one of the brightest stars of modern football, has “firmly decided” to move to Real Madrid in the summer, after the expiration of his current contract with PSG, that is, as a free agent, to Real Madrid, several sources have reported. Le Parisien And ESPN claim that the transition will be announced this week. According to the latter, the 25-year-old striker has already rejected the Parisian club’s offer to extend the contract, despite extremely favorable conditions: PSG was allegedly ready to significantly increase the player’s guaranteed salary, currently €72 million per year, to €100 million, taking into account various bonuses.

At the same time, Mbappe agreed to receive less at Real, but the Spanish club promised to fulfill the forward’s condition and let him play for the French national team at the Olympics in Paris. It will open on July 26th.

As a rule, clubs have a negative attitude towards the performance of their leaders in Olympic tournaments. Their national teams are filled mainly with young players under the age of 23. ESPN’s source, however, emphasizes that when making his decision, Mbappe was guided primarily by the “dream of his youth,” since as a child he admired the Spanish giants and the outstanding football players who shone in them, such as Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Le Parisien, however, insists that Real Madrid are “working” to secure Kylian Mbappe’s most expensive contract at the club. At the same time, PSG, although Mbappe has not yet formally informed him of his departure, is aware of the situation and has already found a replacement for him in the person of the Portuguese Rafael Leana from Milan.

This news marks the end of a long and complex story, which in France is called either a “saga” or, given the abundance of contradictory steps and unexpected plot twists, a “soap opera”. It began in the summer of 2022, when, at the end of the next season, leading publications confidently announced the transfer of Kylian Mbappe from the Parisian team to Real Madrid as a free agent, received after the expiration of the contract. However, instead of moving to the Spanish club, Mbappe unexpectedly announced the signing of a new contract with PSG for a period until 2024. The failure of the deal, as various sources believed, was a consequence of the extremely energetic actions of two presidents – club president Nasser al-Khelaifi and French President Emmanuel Macron, Mbappe’s personal fan, who persuaded him to stay in his homeland, as well as, of course, financial incentives.

Meanwhile in June 2023 It revealedthat at the end of the previous season, Kylian Mbappe’s representatives sent a notification to the management of PSG that the forward would not renew his contract in 2024.

The act was interpreted in the same way: as an acknowledgment of Mbappe’s persistent desire to finally really leave a rich, but not very effective in terms of results in the Champions League and boring project, from which he had also just fled to the USA, to Inter Miami, the legendary Lionel Messi, plus as a signal for PSG to urgently begin negotiations on his sale within the current transfer window. Otherwise, the club risked holding out again until the moment when the forward became a free agent and would be free to go anywhere without compensation.

Then the “soap opera” grew in detail. Nasser al-Khelaifi no longer hid his irritation with the behavior of Kylian Mbappe, publicly presenting the footballer with something similar to an ultimatum during the presentation of the new coach Luis Enrique: if he wants to stay at PSG for the next season, he must renew his contract in advance. And the list of clubs that reputable sources attributed an interest in Kylian Mbappe is no longer limited to Real Madrid. Let’s say, the Saudi Al-Hilal got into it, raising the price for the player, who six months earlier scored a hat-trick in the Qatari World Cup final lost to the French by the Argentines, to an astronomical €300 million.

Moreover, it seemed that PSG was no longer counting on Kylian Mbappe, although he insisted that he was going to work out the contract with him to the end, remaining for another season. He did not take him on a commercial tour of Japan, the footballer’s photo disappeared from the club website, and then Mbappe missed the opening match of the national championship with Lorient. And suddenly Mbappe returned to the starting lineup.

French publications, commenting on the “truce,” said that Kylian Mbappe might have liked the methods of Luis Enrique and the personnel restructuring he carried out. Be that as it may, Mbappe’s performance during the current season did not really hint at the fact that he was simply serving his number, waiting for the contract to expire. In the national championship, the forward shows crazy performance – 20 goals in 19 meetings, and in the Champions League, scoring three goals in the group stage, he helped PSG reach the 1/8 finals. In it, the Parisians will play against the Spanish club Real Sociedad.

Alexey Dospehov