“Kylian Mbappé ended the soap opera and he did it in the worst way for Real Madrid”, estimate the Vanguard. While the Spanish club had been coveting the French prodigy for several years, the 23-year-old star, whose contract expired in June, finally announced on Saturday that she was staying at Paris Saint-Germain, “breaking”according to the Spanish daily “a verbal agreement (around his transfer), made last summer” with the Madrid club.
“I am very happy […] to be able to continue to evolve in France, the country where I was born, grew up and flourished”said Kylian Mbappé, quoted in a press release. The striker has signed a contract with the Parisian club until 2025, said club president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi. The leader of PSG was alongside the player who was holding a shirt “Mbappe 2025” at the Parc des Princes just before the kick-off of the match of the last day of the Ligue 1 championship between the club and Metz (beaten 5-0), when this declaration was made.
“Like a bride abandoned at the altar”
Saturday evening, the choice of Kylian Mbappé was welcomed in Spain with anger and disappointment. “What PSG are doing to prolong Mbappé with big money… after posting €700m losses in recent seasons and having a €600m wage bill euros is an INSULT to football”, wrote on Twitter Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, the body that manages professional football in Spain. The organization said on Saturday that it would also file “complaint” against Paris Saint-Germain as part of this aborted transfer for “to defend the economic ecosystem of European football”.
While “the TV series […] had continued its course for months”the Spaniards had never suspected that Mbappé could fail them, note The country. “Until (the player) leaves Madrid like a bride who is abandoned at the altar on her wedding day”. “The bomb exploded in his face at the worst moment and the shock wave has very notable short and medium term consequences for the club, which is also failing to distance the player from his current arch-enemy, PSG”underlines the Spanish daily.
“This is the second time the striker has left the Spanish club in the lurch,” remark ABCrecalling that in 2017 the then Monegasque footballer also preferred to sign for PSG. “Mbappé’s crash torpedoes (Real Madrid’s) future plans as the young striker appeared on his roadmap as the cornerstone (of the Spanish club)”underlines the Spanish newspaper.
“Politics still in sport”
It’s a “huge emotional blow for Real Madrid”adds The world. “Kylian Mbappé […]the footballer most desired by the white team has just ruined the sports project designed by Florentino Pérez [le président du Real Madrid] for the next decade”.
For the Spanish daily, the Parisian player had been under pressure for months. “From the moment he announced that he would be ready to leave PSG, a campaign was launched from the Élysée to convince him that he should not leave Paris for reasons of national interests. Because he represents this new multi-ethnic French generation. Politics, always in sport”note The world. “Mbappé also had to put up with a permanent offensive from Qatar, led by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, so that he could continue at PSG and reach the World Cup by playing for the team that this country sponsors with blows of money. million”. For everyday, “Qatar gave him and his family eternal blank cheques, French public opinion put pressure on him and now, less than a month before the end of his contract, Mbappé has decided to stay so that everything remains the same, but with full pockets”.