Posted by The Real Madrid transfer seems to be gaining traction in the Spanish city, where Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain is a striker.
As his contract comes to an end in the summer, the 25-year-old France captain informed PSG authorities that he plans to depart, a source close to the Ligue 1 winners revealed on Thursday.
Madrid, who declined to comment when AFP inquired, is in the lead to sign a player they have tried to sign multiple times but been turned down for.
According to Spanish media, Madrid is making Mbappe a smaller offer than it did when he chose to extend his PSG contract in 2022. Cadena SER has stated that he is seeking a season salary of 50 million euros ($54 million) plus a substantial signing-on bonus of 120 million euros.
According to media site Marca, Mbappe told club management “that he only wanted to play for Real Madrid” and notified the Spanish powerhouses of his desire to quit PSG on Tuesday, 48 hours before it was made public by a PSG-affiliated source.
Supporters and the local media are beginning to speculate about what might happen now that Madrid’s accountants have the task of managing the financial fair play impact and the data.
“The countdown has begun,” Marca had written earlier in the day.
“After seven years, all signs point to Mbappe’s arrival becoming official on July 1st.”
Mbappe passed up the opportunity to join Madrid from Monaco in 2017 in favor of PSG, maybe fearing that it would be tough to remove players like Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, or Cristiano Ronaldo from the attack.
He may now lead the line with Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior.
Luis Caceres, the president of the Real Madrid fan club federation, told AFP that would be ideal.
Mbappe, who has not yet won the Champions League, may still play against record 14-time winners Madrid this year.
Madrid will “keep silent” on Mbappe as long as the two teams are still competing in Europe, according to the Spanish publication AS.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was tricked into disclosing information regarding Mbappe’s future in June of last year by a fan of the team.
The 22-year-old Enrique Higueras approached Perez outside of a restaurant and requested him to bring Mbappe to the Santiago Bernabeu.
True, but not this year, Perez answered.
A doctoral student studying sports science named Higueras told AFP he thinks Mbappe would be successful when and if he gets there.
Higueras declared, “I’m confident he’ll play at Madrid and create history.”
“Mbappe is not necessary for Madrid to win the Champions League, but his arrival obviously increases the team’s chances of taking home the coveted trophy.”
“Bitterness,” though, is how some fans still remember Mbappe’s rejection and other alleged slights.
Oscar Movellan Martinez, a 42-year-old business consultant who calls himself a “huge fan” of Real Madrid, expressed his displeasure with Mbappe’s apparent mockery of Los Blancos following his PSG contract renewal.
Movellan stated, “I can understand what happened in 2022, for the pressure the kid received… in the media all the way up to (French President Emmanuel) Macron.”
The attitude that followed was what I didn’t like. I comprehend that he might have felt compelled to extend his contract with PSG in order to move to Madrid, but I don’t understand his response.
It might take a few goals from PSG’s all-time leading scorer to ease tensions if Mbappe does decide to join Real Madrid in the summer.
Movellan continued, “I think the Bernabeu crowd will be a little bitter at first, but look—this is a fan base that even whistled for (Zinedine) Zidane back in the day.”
Some are cautiously opting to hold off on believing Mbappe will join until it is officially announced.
“After what happened in 2022, I won’t believe it until I see him sign,” Caceres continued.