What’s Going on With Kylian Mbappé
Cover Photo from Real Madrid
Kshitij Batra
Kylian Mbappé, a fantastic footballer, made a move to Real Madrid this summer. He told multiple media outlets that it had been his dream to play for Madrid since he was a kid. He watched Cristiano Ronaldo play there and wanted to be just like him. Madrid fans wanted the same, but Mbappé had a problem. During his years at Paris Saint-Germain, he was pampered and his every need was catered to. He practically ran the club. Mbappé's position in Paris was so powerful that he was nearly bigger than the club, given over £1 million a week.
PSG resisted the idea of Mbappé making his big move to Spain so much that they lost control of him and his needs. They continued to augment his salary and adapt the club to his ways so that he could control his position on the pitch, his attendance for practice, big club transfers, and other massive club decisions. He broke PSG down until he finally got his dream transfer to happen for just £15 million, which was a steal for Real Madrid, or so they thought.
In the regular LaLiga season, Mbappé has six goals and one assist in 11 appearances. Three of those goals were penalties. While players are expected to win penalties, it is one of the easiest ways to score in a football match so it doesn’t reflect high skill. Mbappé’s stats are starting to put everything into perspective for fans and the manager, Carlo Ancelotti. Last season at PSG, he had over 50 goals/assists. Granted, LaLiga is a more rigorous competition, but we have still seen Mbappé show his class in the Champions League and during international competitions.
These mediocre performances may be due to Mbappé’s past. Because he was the star of PSG and became bigger than the club—even shining over the likes of Neymar Santos Jr. and Lionel Messi—the fact is, he will never be bigger than his new club. This is evident through the story of Cristiano Ronaldo. At the end of the 2017/18 season, Ronaldo announced that he would be moving to Juventus. This was just after winning the Champions League, the biggest club competition in football history. He had made this move because he was not considered to have the same talent as he did when he first signed for Madrid. He believed this was the opinion of the club president, Florentino Perez. Other sources shared that his departure was due to his contract requirements and because he was denied a pay raise.
Ronaldo’s story showed us how a single player will never be greater than Real Madrid because they do not bend to the will of their players, managers, or other authority.
Along with a rocky start to LaLiga, he is also on bad terms with Didier Deschamps, the France national team manager. He was not called up to play in the qualifying rounds of the Nation’s League. Deschamps has stated that it was his choice not to invite Mbappé even though he was fit and willing to play. This has left fans curious as to why Deschamps is making these decisions even though 18 year old Mbappé played a big role in France’s 2018 Russia World Cup win and kept them alive during the final of the 2022 Qatar World Cup against Argentina.
As we move into the era of the new Galacticos (superstars) with Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Jr., Jude Bellingham, and more, we can see that Mbappé could very well struggle in Real Madrid because he can no longer choose his position, augment his salary, or make decisions on who to sign.
Carlo Ancelotti expects Mbappé to adapt to the club’s standards, and if he doesn’t, Ancelotti isn’t afraid to stick him on the bench. So, it leaves fans with the questions: Will we see him on the bench more than we will see him on the pitch? And most of all, what’s going on with Kylian Mbappé?
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