Now that Kylian Mbappe is staying in Paris, what does it mean for Real Madrid?
It was announced Saturday that Kylian Mbappe has agreed a new three-year deal with Paris St-Germain, after the French international winger was widely tipped to complete a dream move to Real Madrid. Following weeks, months and years of endless speculation we have finally reached the climax of a transfer saga that has dominated the headlines like none before.
The 23-year-old has played five years in a PSG shirt and when expected to trade it for a Real Madrid jersey, he presented the most astonishing plot twist by remarkably opting to remain in the French capital instead of switching to its Spanish equivalent.
Mbappé has been on Real’s radar for a number of years and many a time has the World Cup winner openly flirted with the idea of donning the crest of the 13-time champions of Europe. Real offered PSG an eye-watering €180million for Mbappé last summer, but PSG president Nasser el Khelaifi remained reluctant to lose his key man.
After a series of offers for Mbappé to remain in his home city, he eventually decided to sign on at the Parc des Princes although it seems to have cost PSG more than an arm and a leg to convince their superstar to extend his stay. Mbappé, similarly to everyone else at the club, is desperate for the Parisians to taste success on the European stage.
Mbappé has committed to the Parisians until 2025, and will purportedly earn an outrageous yearly salary in the region of €100million. Mbappé also collects a €300million signing bonus and the player is said to now have authority above the manager and sporting director of the club. The current incumbents of these positions, Mauricio Pochettino and Leonardo, are both set to leave PSG in the coming days.
Player power has been an eroding problem in Paris in recent years, and Mbappé’s bumper contract will only exacerbate the problem. PSG’s squad was unmanageable long before Pochettino walked through the doors, and Nasser el Khelaifi is on the verge of appointing a fourth different manager since 2016. Unai Emery and Thomas Tuchel each lasted under two years in the PSG dugout however both managers have gone on to win European cups since leaving Paris.
✍️ Kylian Mbappé signing a new 3-year contract at PSG:
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) May 21, 2022
👉 €300M signing bonus
👉 €100M a year salary AFTER tax
👉 He will help decide the coach.
👉 He will have a say on the sporting director.
👉 He can approve signings and sales
🤯🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/i6EW5R4ywO
Mbappé was named Ligue 1 Player of the Season for a third time, notching a league-high 28 goals and 17 assists. His 45 goal involvements is 15 more than any other player in the French top-flight this season. Mbappé also netted six times in the UEFA Champions League, including twice versus against Real in the Round of 16, and he ends the 2021/22 season with 39 goals in 46 games across three competitions.
Over the years Madrid have made a handful of high-profile signings such as Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo who both signed at the Santiago Bernabéu in the summer 2009, costing Madrid a combined €160million fee. Eden Hazard, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, and Zinedine Zidane are just some of the countless others on whom Madrid have previously splashed the cash. With utmost respect to the aforementioned names, the acquisition of Mbappé would have gone down as perhaps the shrewdest piece of business in football history over and above the fact that Madrid would not have paid any premium for his signature.
In the event Real are unwilling to wait another three years and would rather sign Mbappé before then, they will have to fork out an astronomical figure to land the PSG talisman.
With the Mbappé ship now sailed, Madrid will have to look elsewhere for a marquee signing. Had Florentino Perez known Mbappé would leave Real hanging, the Los Blancos president undoubtedly would have made an extra effort to acquire Erling Haaland before the striker agreed a move to Manchester City.
Should Real decide to splash the cash on another high-profile attacker, he will need to act fast. One lethal goalscorer on the market is Robert Lewandowski, who has refused a new contract at Bayern Munich. Real’s arch rivals FC Barcelona are favourites to land the Polish striker, who previously snubbed Real back in 2014 in favour of a move to Bayern. If Perez was serious about filling the empty void meant for Mbappé then he would convince Lewandowski to sign with Real instead of Barça.
Haaland’s imminent switch to Manchester could put Gabriel Jesus’s City career in jeopardy. The Brazilian forward is said to be considering his options and a potential move to Arsenal could be off in the likely event the Gunners fail to qualify for the Champions League.
Real have already made one key signing before the transfer window officially opens on June 10, with German defender Antonio Rüdiger agreeing a pre-contract ahead of the end of his Chelsea contract next month. Rüdiger will be officially unveiled as a Real player following the team’s Champions League final versus Liverpool next week.
The Spanish giants may also opt for midfield reinforcements in the forthcoming summer, with Luca Modrić (36) and Toni Kroos (32) both out of contract in 2023.
