'Mbappe forced to reject Real Madrid by political pressure'
Cameron Smith
- Updated: 2 Jul 2022 14:53 BST
- 3 min read
Kylian Mbappe reportedly chose to reject Real Madrid and renew his Paris Saint-Germain contract due to a "political issue", according to one of his former team-mates.
Mbappe, 23, was set to become a free agent on 1 July, but decided on a transfer U-turn and ended up extending his contract in the French capital after months of speculation.
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The France international had repeatedly been linked with a move to Real Madrid, the club he supported growing up, and Los Blancos even had a €200 million bid rejected by PSG last summer.
The storyline around his future continued deep into the 2021/22 season before he announced a new three-year deal to keep him at the Parc des Princes until 2025.
Mbappe, who initially joined PSG on loan from boyhood club AS Monaco, was handed a bumper new wage package upon agreeing to a new contract as well as a large signing-on bonus.
However, he had entered advanced talks with Real Madrid and appeared set on joining international team-mate Karim Benzema at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Why didn't Mbappe join Real Madrid?
Jese Rodriguez, who came through the Real Madrid academy and made nearly 100 appearances for the first-team, believes Mbappe didn't stay at PSG for footballing reasons.
The 29-year-old, who now plays for Turkish side Ankaragucu, featured alongside Mbappe at PSG during his time at the club and has revealed that he expected the Frenchman to join Real Madrid.
Jese told El Partidazo on COPE radio: "I’m surprised that Mbappe didn’t go to Real Madrid because he told me he was going to play there one day. If he didn’t go to Real Madrid, it was because of pressure outside of football; it’s a political issue."
After missing out on Mbappe, Real Madrid spent €100m on PSG target Aurelien Tchouameni and have also added Chelsea and Germany defender Antonio Rudiger on a free transfer.
