For Paris Saint-Germain, he has wondered when, instead of himself. In football, this summer has been an open secret that Real Madrid wants to sign Kylian Mbappe.
On Tuesday evening, Madrid president Florentino Pérez made his play for the striker. Madrid presented a proposal to formalize a package worth 160 million euros (136.9 million pounds) for the Frenchman. Sources have confirmed to Athletic that PSG intend to reject the offer, although it had not been communicated directly to Real Madrid since Tuesday evening.
End of story? Not exactly.
Not when Pérez fell in love with Mbappe, the 22-year-old who has already won the World Cup, represented his country 48 times and scored 133 goals in colors for PSG. In fact, when Carlo Ancelotti returned to Madrid as head coach this summer, Pérez made it immediately clear to the Italian that Mbappe will be the main focus of incoming transfers over the next twelve months. “It’s a total obsession for Florentino,” insisted a source close to Madrid.
That’s why Perez immediately made it clear to Ancelotti that he had to do without Madrid’s long central defensive pair, Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, and start the new season with more modest names like Nacho and Eder Militao in their line. background.
Madrid could not afford to give Ramos the length of the contract the Spaniard wanted, so he left for PSG, while Varane left for Manchester United in an agreement that, including the add-ons, could reach 40 million pound sterling. That, however, was not enough. Madrid’s finances have been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic: the loss of tickets, sponsorship and conferences cost 300 million euros in the 2020-21 season.