Kylian Mbappé has sealed a dream move to Spanish giants Real Madrid and the announcement will be made on the evening of Monday, 3 June 2024.
Mbappé was close to moving to the Spanish capital in 2017 after his breakout year with AS Monaco and in 2022, but on both occasions, Paris Saint-Germain had a say.
In 2017, they secured the then 17-year-old’s services for a world record loan fee before signing him on a permanent basis in 2018 for a world record fee paid for a teenage player.
In 2022, he was close to leaving but chose to remain at the club for many reasons which he has revealed in a recent interview.
Now, he is free of every contractual obligation at the club, he is leaving as a legend and the best player that the French Ligue 1 has ever seen. He will be moving to the recently-crowned UEFA Champions League winners after the 2024 UEFA European Championships in which he will represent France.
It was at the French national team training camp that the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner met with France’s president Emmanuel Macron. The political leader of the European country who is also a big football fan paid a courtesy visit to his national team to provide moral support as they prepare to take on the rest of the continent.
They had a short conversation in which Mbappé revealed that his move to Madrid will be announced on the evening of 3 June 2024.
Macron, who was followed around by RMC cameras, greeted Mbappe, “Kylian, how are you?” to which the 25-year-old forward replied, “Good.” The president then asked, “When is it announced?” Mbappe responded, “Tonight, tonight.”
Unless they were having another discussion, the assumption is that they were talking about his move to Madrid which is all but confirmed.
The 25-year-old, who scored 256 goals in 308 appearances for PSG to become their all-time top scorer, will sign a five-year contract at the Santiago Bernabeu worth £12.8 million (€15 million) a year after tax.
He took a pay cut to move to Madrid. Mbappé was on €75 million (£63.9 million) gross in the final year of his PSG contract, and was also getting a €30 milliom-a-year (£25.6 million) signing-on bonus.
His departure has freed up at least €220 million (£187.5 million) of gross cost to PSG.
Meanwhile, France U-21 manager Thierry Henry has dashed Mbappé’s hopes of participating in the Paris Olympics by picking Alexandre Lacazette and Jean-Philippe Mateta as overage players ahead of him
