With Kylian Mbappe now available to join a club of his choice as a free agent next season, reported frontrunners for his signature Real Madrid should not ignore the red flags associated with signing the French superstar!
It was recently reported that the 25-year-old had reached an agreement to join Los Blancos in the 2024/25 season after a lengthy pursuit dating back as far as 2021. However, those claims were quickly dismissed by the player's camp, who confirmed in a statement on Monday that the reports were untrue.
According to RMC Sport, Mbappe's representatives said: "There is no agreement around Kylian's future, especially since there are no discussions started about it. No type of influence could also dictate the timing of Kylian's discussions, consideration or decision."
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Real are now in a familiar position again, where there's no official guarantee that they will finally sign the highly sought-after talent. The game of cat-and–mouse looks set to continue although Mbappe is well within his rights to sign a pre-contract agreement with Los Blancos. It is becoming a rather desperate situation for the Spanish giants, who despite their gigantic status, can't seem to lure the Paris Saint-Germain talisman.
As such, Real should take careful consideration about bringing the France international to the Santiago Bernabeu next term.
In the event that he arrives, there are been a few concerns about his role in the team given he has previously expressed he doesn't like being played out of his preferred left-wing position. At Real, that position currently belongs to Vinicius Junior and it's unclear who would have to make a compromise between the two stars. Moreover, manager Carlo Ancelotti will be out of contract in June 2024 and if he eventually departs, the next manager would be forced to make a big call almost immediately into his tenure.
Mbappe has also faced various accusations of having a big ego, as there have been reported incidents of a fallout with some of his teammates, most notably his former PSG colleague Neymar. The pacy forward has also shown that he is not reluctant to take on management as well, having had differences with the France national team over his image rights and PSG over contractual issues.
In recent seasons, Real has also demonstrated that no one is bigger than the club, with Cristiano Ronaldo's abrupt 2018 exit being a notable example of this given that the club decided to sever ties with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner after he reportedly wanted a new deal. In an interview with France Football, Ronaldo would later claim he no longer felt "indispensable" at Real due to a strained relationship with club president Fiorentino Perez at the time. Los Merengues icons Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos would also suffer a similar fate of being pushed out of the club.
The core of the team is relatively young, with players like Vinicius, Rodrygo, Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Brahim Diaz, Arda Guler, and the incoming Brazilian sensation Endrick. Therefore, Perez should be mindful of the fact that bringing a player like Mbappe in could destabilise the harmony of the team. It is also likely that the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner would become the highest earner in the team, something that could potentially work in Mbappe's favour in a situation of a power struggle between him and one of his teammates or a member of staff.
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