Kylian Mbappé to Real Madrid, the galactic transfer finally ended on sundayIt was a slow saga of power, money, politics and ambition.
It started years ago with flirting and dating. A presidential intervention and Qatari wealth prolonged it. But an explosive letter from 2023 reignited him. And throughout 2024, a crescendo of rumors and reports, each stronger than the last, turned a likely outcome into a foregone conclusion. Mbappé had decided to leave Paris Saint Germain; then he communicated his decision to the club; Then he reached an agreement with Real Madrid; then he announced his imminent departure. He had even prepared his new house in Spain.
That he was headed to Madrid became the worst-kept secret in all of sports, one that loomed over him and two entire countries.
Now, however, it is simply a match made in football heaven.
It is the rare compatible marriage between superstar and superclub.
And with contracts now officially signedand official announcements will be available soon, it’s a childhood dream come true.
Kylian Mbappé to Real Madrid, HERE WE GO! Each document has been signed, sealed and completed.
Real Madrid, about to announce Mbappé as a new signing next week after winning the Champions League.
Mbappé made his decision in February; He can now be considered a new Real player. pic.twitter.com/MMqEp1C0pK
—Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 2, 2024
This was the only sensible outcome of the saga, even after Mbappé rejected Real Madrid in 2022. This time, he never seriously considered or negotiated with any other club. Because there was only one who could match and amplify his ambition.
Madrid, of course, was also the club that adorned the walls of his childhood bedroom. That’s the romantic story, and one that will surely be twisted to distract from the more cynical view: the charge that this is a kind of competitive avoidance. Mbappé failed to win the Champions League in seven seasons at PSG. That he will join the team that he seemingly always wins, Kevin Durant-style with the Golden State Warriors, is not lost on anyone.
But the real story here is more pragmatic and rational. The fit is perfect. Real Madrid, tactically, culturally and commercially, was really the only club capable of housing Mbappé’s talent and celebrity.
His move will draw comparisons with his previous superteam and with the Lionel Messi-Neymar-Mbappé trident that defined PSG 2021-23. His failures, of course, will raise a provocative question: Are we sure that Mbappé in Madrid will work?
But their new attacking trident (Mbappé, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham, arguably the three best players in the world today) will be very different.
Messi and Neymar were (and are) dominant stars on the ball around whom a team must revolve. Nobody defends. Messi barely runs. Both are great as a singular focal point, but when there were multiple focal points in Paris, the team’s balance and chemistry went awry.
In Madrid it will not be like that, because Mbappé, Vini and Bellingham are all flexible.
While PSG had to build a team around certain players, Madrid will welcome Mbappé into one that has already been carefully constructed.
In fact, the structure of the team will hardly have to change. Madrid conquered Spain and Europe this season with an unconventional 4-3-1-2, with Vini and Rodrygo as fluid forwards moving from the wing to the centre, and Bellingham behind them. Mbappé, at worst, will simply slide into Rodrygo’s position (one he seems ideal for) and increase the team’s dominance.
At best, he will provide Madrid’s astute coach Carlo Ancelotti with new options and dynamism. Mbappé can play in the center of a three, as part of a two forwards or on the wing. He could play as a classic striker in a 4-3-3, with Vini on the left and Rodrygo on the right and Bellingham further back. Or he could position himself in the 4-3-1-2 and offer a more direct attacking push, more pace, more goals, more… everything.
That “clinical nine,” Bellingham said Saturday after a 2-0 Champions League final victory over Borussia Dortmund, is “the one little thing that maybe (current Real Madrid) was missing.”
“If he came and gave us that,” Bellingham said of Mbappé, “we would be in a really fantastic place. “It would take us to another level.”
And his arrival will not disrupt, or at least it should not, the Real Madrid locker room. The players, according to reports, have reacted to the Mbappé news with enthusiasm, not with skepticism or discomfort. And Mbappé is not the typical megastar; he is, by all indications, humble and affable. With Vini and Bellingham, and his French compatriots Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga, and many others, he should fit in perfectly.
And your salary will help you achieve it. According to reports, this is not the stratospheric salary that both Real Madrid and PSG offered him two summers ago. His annual salary, about $16 million, will be more in line with that of Vini and Bellingham. He will receive a huge signing bonus. supposedly more than 100 million dollars — and retain certain image rights. But the structure of the contract will, in a way, help you integrate.
And while Messi and Neymar were bigger than PSG, no one is bigger than Real Madrid. Mbappé will enter a club with well-trained infrastructure and systems accustomed to supporting and managing players like him. He will raise the club’s football roof; but the club might actually raise his profile more than he will raise theirs.
And the rich will get richer.