How PSG snatched Mbappe back from Real Madrid
Robin Bairner
- 28 May 2022 15:13 BST
- 3 min read
PSG unleashed their secret weapon to persuade Kylian Mbappe from completing a summer transfer to Real Madrid.
Mbappe had appeared poised to leave the Parc des Princes for over a year, with Los Blancos aggressively pursuing him with a €200 million bid in 2021. Although it was knocked back, PSG appeared to be fighting a losing battle to keep the Parisian in their ranks.
However, there was a remarkable U-turn in the World Cup winner’s thinking and he ultimately signed a new three-year contract with the club.
Related articles
Trust key in PSG talks
L’Equipe reports that the secret to PSG’s success in getting the forward to pen this new deal was Portuguese administrator Antero Henrique, who was sporting director at the time when Mbappe signed for the club from Monaco.
Henrique is now working as director of the Qatar Stars League but took on special duties for PSG earlier this year when it came to working his persuasive magic to get he club’s star player to commit his future to the team.
Together with Luis Ferrer, another former member of the PSG board who is close to the Mbappe family, they worked to reassure those close to the player that remaining in France was the correct thing for his future. It is said that although they used many of the same arguments as president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, their words carried more weight.
Indeed, it is underlined that Real Madrid made a virtually identical salary offer to the player and that it was the minor things that counted in the Ligue 1 champions’ favour.
They promised, for example, that the direction of PSG’s project would change, which was evidenced by the sacking of sporting director Leonardo immediately after the final game of the 2021/22 season.
Henrique and Ferrer will not return to PSG, but after success in persuading Mbappe to reject Real Madrid, they could well be used as key negotiators for big future transfers.
