Mbappé, “the prince of the suburbs” in Madrid “in search of a happiness that he did not find at PSG”
“Kylian Mbappé, the prince of the suburbs, arrives at Real Madrid”, announces the newspaper ABC which devotes half a dozen articles to the transfer of the Frenchman, among other things to tell the story of the prodigy from Bondy, town “with a worrying history of crime and social unrest”. The player, “a talent with the speed and feint of Ronaldo, the power of Cristiano, and the leadership and charisma of both”made his signing official on Monday evening, two days after the Merengue won the club’s fifteenth Champions League.
Sport, pro-Barcelona daily, does not make its front page about the rival but cannot avoid talking about it. He emphasizes that “the Madrid fan kid who idolized Cristiano Ronaldo makes his dream come true”. Like the entire Spanish press, Sport insists on the long wait of the player and the club before the union. “Kylian Mbappé is not one of those who think that a train passes only once in a lifetime (…) time ended up proving him right”notes the newspaper.
El Mundo describe “a seven-season novel with betrayals, promises, clues, anger, excuses, money and fame. All the ingredients for chaos”. As a teenager, Mbappé, invited by Zinédine Zidane, played a match with one of Real’s youth teams. But then he chose not to stay. Madrid courted him again when he was in Monaco but he preferred to join PSG in 2017. And the Spanish club suffered another refusal in May 2022 when all of Madrid thought the transfer was complete. “In the Spanish capital, many considered the decision a betrayal, including members of the board of directors”tell El Mundo. Florentino Pérez, the club president, forgave and waited.
Another Frenchman sacrificed?
Two years later, the record goal scorer with Paris is therefore a Madrid player with a salary estimated between 15 and 20 million euros per season, in addition to a signing bonus of 125 million. He comes “in search of the happiness that he did not find at PSG”, estimated La Vanguardia. The 2018 World Cup winner has yet to win the Champions League or the Ballon d’Or. He “has not yet quenched his thirst for recognition”, continues the daily. But he “was able to see for himself that to achieve the greatest individual recognition in the world of football, you have to be called Leo Messi or play for Real Madrid. The last 15 winners of the Ballon d’Or met this condition”.
Precisely, two candidates for the next award are his new teammates: the Brazilian Vinicius and the Englishman Jude Bellingham, who have just won the Spanish championship and the Champions League. Even if Real recruited “atomic bomb”, as it is called El País, unlike 2022, the scorer “no longer arrives to save the club from crossing the desert following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo”.
The 25-year-old striker joins a young squad so should we plan for a “hegemony for the next five years? ”, request Marca. The sports newspaper also questions the integration of the seven-time French champion into the team’s game. Will Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti choose an organization with four midfielders and two attacking players or three midfielders and three attacking players. In this case, it would probably be necessary to put Aurélien Tchouaméni or Eduardo Camavinga on the bench, predicts the daily. Which means that one Frenchman would chase another.
