Mbappe already 'most insufferable player' in Real Madrid history

Martin Macdonald

• 8 Feb 2024 09:06 GMT
• 3 min read

Kylian Mbappe is ‘the most insufferable player’ in Real Madrid’s history despite not yet kicking a ball for the Spanish capital club, according to one renowned Madrid journalist.

At the weekend, Le Parisien delivered the bombshell report that Paris Saint-Germain were privately admitting that the battle to keep Mbappe is lost with the player intent on signing for Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer.

Although no deal has yet been reached between los Blancos and the 2018 World Cup winner, the French publication reported that Mbappe was effectively preparing to hand his notice in to PSG club president Nasser al-Khelaifi.

The terms of a potential deal were then revealed earlier this week with Cadena SER claiming that, in order to move to Santiago Bernabeu, Mbappe was looking for a €50 million annual salary - double that of other top earners like Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, a €120m signing on fee as well as a 60-40 split in his own image rights with the club.

Mbappe has snubbed Real once before

Those gargantuan finances would surely stretch the definition of the words “free transfer” and the player and his potential new club have still not agreed terms.

Madrid thought they had their man back in 2022 when it seemed inevitable that he would move to Spain at the end of his previous PSG contract.

Mbappe stunned the world when he instead signed a new deal which, the club claimed, extended to 2025.

It was later disclosed that the deal was actually only valid until 2024 with Mbappe himself holding the right to extend it a further year.

He enraged PSG bosses with his refusal to activate that clause last summer, leading to him being temporarily moved to the PSG “bomb squad” alongside the outcasts who would go on to be sold.

He was eventually welcomed back into the fold and has been again PSG’s best player, scoring 30 goals in 29 matches in all competitions this season.

The saga has been ongoing for close to two years and in the eyes of Tomas Roncero, one of the most prominent Madrid voices, it has become practically impossible for Mbappe to pay the debt he now owes to the 14-time European champions.

“Whatever he does, he is already the most insufferable player in Real Madrid’s history,” Roncero told Cadena SER.

“It’s really tedious. He must admit that he made a mistake in coming here. The debt that he owes to Real Madrid is almost impossible to pay.

"He must own up to his error and know that money is not the most important thing. Everything leads us to believe that he won’t extend in Paris. If he does, it’ll be really Machiavellian.”