Now yes. After seven years of trying, Real Madrid leaked yesterday that they have signed Kylian Mbappé. As Marca advanced yesterday morning, Florentino Pérez would have already obtained the yes of his new galactico, who will play at the Santiago Bernabéu for the next five seasons with an increasing salary that includes a range between fifteen and twenty million net per year plus a bonus for goals, less than the 32 million net he was now earning at PSG and much less than what the French club was willing to give him.
Mbappé, 25 years old, would arrive with the letter of freedom but it is not a cheap signing by any means. Whites will have to pay him a high signing premium. At first there was talk of 180 million, but now it has been lowered to 130 million.
With his arrival at Real Madrid, Mbappé will become the player who earns the most, although the club insist that he will not break the salary balance of the squad. So far the five footballers who earned the most were Toni Kroos (24 million gross), David Alaba (22.5 million), Modric (22 million), Vinícius (21?million) and Jude Bellingham (21 million).
Although the news will not be official until several weeks from now, it was already taken for granted in France for many days, when it was learned that the player had told the president of the French club, Al-Khelaifi, that no way he was willing to fulfill the optional year of his current contract, which expires this June 30.
Madrid does not believe that the signing can be spoiled, as it already happened in the spring of 2022, when Florentino Pérez believed that he was bound and the player surrendered to the money of PSG and to the strong pressures, including that of the president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron. “Now this is more done than the roof of the Bernabéu”, club sources told this newspaper yesterday. Madrid then offered him a net annual salary of 26 million.
The idea of ??the white club is to be able to present the striker to inaugurate the new Bernabéu in June, before the start of the European Championship. There are only a few fringes left in the renovation works of the stadium, especially on the outside, and the presentation would be in the style of the one players such as Cristiano, Kaká and Benzema had in their day, the referents of the arrival from Florentino Pérez in his second term at the club, in the summer of 2009.
It remains to be seen how the player will fit into the eleven. In principle, everything indicates that he will play as a 9, with Vinícius and Rodrygo on the wings. The arrival of Endrick, the young striker of Palmeiras and one of the most important promises of Brazilian football, has also been made. Endrick will turn 18 on July 21, so Madrid believe he can have a couple of seasons of acclimatization without so much pressure. The continuity of Joselu, on loan for one season from Espanyol with an option to buy for 1.5 million, is also taken for granted and this season has amply demonstrated that he can be a substitute for guarantees.
It is also necessary to see whether or not Mbappé competes in the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, as was his wish, which would cause him to miss the entire pre-season.
At the Real Madrid store in the same Santiago Bernabéu, some fans were already asking yesterday if they had Mbappé’s shirt. The club has not yet decided the number of the player. It is known of his preference for 7, but this number remains for Vinícius.
The two most studied options are to give him number 9, which is free since the departure of Karim Benzema, or number 10, in this case of Luka Modric, only, obviously, if the Croatian does not renew, which which at 38 years old seems quite complicated.
