Real Madrid News
Mbappe will leave PSG for Real Madrid this summer only if he receives €150m payment
There appears to be no end in sight to the Kylian Mbappe transfer saga. The 24-year-old superstar has decided not to renew his contract with PSG beyond 2024 and wants to leave the club as a free agent next summer.
However, Les Parisiens have made it clear that either the forward renews or they intend to sell him off this summer itself. Real Madrid are paying close attention to the situation and are understood to be growing confident that they will sign Mbappe this year only.
But, things do not appear to be as straightforward as they seem if a fresh report from MARCA is to be believed.
Mbappe has said multiple times already that he wishes to remain at PSG for the remainder of his contract. And as per the report, the motivating factor behind his stance is financial.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup winner stands to earn a mammoth €150 million if he stays with the Ligue 1 champions for the upcoming season – €60 million in annual wages and another €90 million as a loyalty bonus agreed when he signed a new deal last year.
The idea is for Mbappe to remain at PSG for the next season and collect that entire sum before penning a pre-contract agreement with Real Madrid in January 2024 and negotiating a signing-on bonus worth €100-125 million.
If Mbappe were to leave PSG this summer itself, he would stand to lose the signing-on bonus he would receive if he joined Madrid as a free agent, along with the €150 million payment that he would pocket if he stayed for another year.
Hence, Mbappe will now only leave the club if Les Parisiens will accept to pay him the €150 million that he would be owed for the next season. The club and their owners in Qatar are aware of and are outraged by the situation.
Mbappe’s mother, Fayza Lamari, who is said to be pushing the forward to join Real Madrid, is in talks with PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi to find common ground, but the negotiations are going to be very complicated.
Real Madrid News
Real Madrid record signing labelled once in a generation star: ‘One in every ten years’
Real Madrid had an exceptional summer transfer window, with the club bringing in as many as seven players for Jose Mourinho.
No signing was bigger than Yan Diomande, though, with the Ivorian becoming Los Blancos’ most expensive acquisition of all time.
The 19-year-old arrives at Madrid carrying enormous expectations, and the people who have worked closely with the young winger believe he can live up to them.
As quoted by MARCA, Thiago Freitas, operations director at Roc Nation, used an extraordinary comparison when discussing Diomande.
Diomande compared to Halley’s Comet
Roc Nation identified Diomande while he was still at Leipzig, and Freitas explained just how quickly the agency became convinced by his potential.
“We are always looking at the stars, but while looking at the stars, sometimes a comet appears,” Freitas said.
“I can say that Yan, among the stars, is like a comet, a Halley that you find every eight or ten years. And when the possibility of working with him came to us, we did not think twice.”
The agency subsequently built a personalised structure around Diomande to help his development, although convincing Leipzig to part with such a valuable young player was never expected to be straightforward.
“A player of this level, every club wants to keep. We knew it would be a great challenge, a difficult task to make this transfer happen,” he explained.
Real Madrid changed the transfer race
Freitas also revealed that several major clubs wanted Diomande before Madrid eventually secured his signature.
“Many of the most important, richest and most qualified clubs in the world showed interest in Yan,” he said.
However, once Madrid entered the race, Roc Nation felt the dynamic changed completely.
“But I always say that for players, Real Madrid is the Pele of clubs,” Freitas explained.
“When Real Madrid’s interest appears, there is nothing more the other clubs can do.”
Freitas believes Diomande’s unpredictability makes him particularly suited to Madrid, where opponents regularly defend with the primary objective of containing their attacking talent.
“Yan is a player who can bring a lot of surprise to Madrid,” he said, highlighting his ability to break tactical structures and create unexpected situations.
Diomande is still a young player who needs time under Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese tactician is easing him into action.
The teenager may not be starting for Madrid yet, but it will not be long before he gets the nod. Jose is said to be keen to avoid another Mastantuono situation with him.
One thing is clear, though: everyone who has worked with Madrid in some capacity thinks the sky is the limit for him, and it remains to be seen whether he hits those heights at the Bernabeu.
