"I’m Staying Home"

Mbappe Rejects Real Madrid and Stays with PSG

Last week, if you asked ten football fans where they thought Kylian Mbappe would play next season, nine would probably say Real Madrid, with the one person being a hopeful PSG fan. However, that lone PSG fan got his wish as France’s most prominent star shocked the football world. On Monday, Mbappe signed a massive, three-year contract with PSG to remain with the club for at least another season.

After acquiring stars Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Donnaruma, Achraf Hakimi, and Sergio Ramos, the expectations for the 2021-22 season were sky-high for PSG. Although they won Ligue 1 by a comfortable 15 points ahead of Marseille, they failed to make deep runs in both their cup competitions. PSG was eliminated by Real Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16 after winning the first leg 1-0 and was beaten in penalties in the Coupe Nationale by runners-up Nice. Furthermore, the stars they acquired in the previous transfer window did not live up to expectations. Donnaruma and Messi both had a solid season but supporters expected more from them, while Ramos missed the majority of the season with a calf injury. However, the bosses at PSG did enough to convince Mbappe to sign a new contract to remain with the club.

However, it’s not just any contract that Mbappe signed, it’s the most valuable contract in football history. According to the reliable Spanish news outlet Marca, Mbappe’s new contract is worth over 400 million euros. With an incredible 100 million euro signing bonus, Mbappe will earn 50 million euros per season for the next three years. To put things into perspective, Lionel Messi’s contract with PSG is worth 30 million euros for the next two seasons with PSG. Not to mention, Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract with Manchester United is also worth around 29 million euros per season. Although Mbappe is over ten years younger than both Messi and Ronaldo, nobody in football has been able to secure a contract with similar financials to the two men who’ve dominated football over the last two decades. Though it doesn’t end there for PSG. They must also pay Mbappe’s former club, AS Monaco, for a clause that states they earn an additional 35 million euros if Mbappe signs another contract with PSG, on top of the 180 million paid in 2018.

Although Real Madrid’s interest in Mbappe was the worst-kept secret in world football, many supporters believed that the deal for the Frenchman to come to Spain was already completed. To make it worse for Madrid fans, reports earlier in the year even stated that the club was set to acquire both Mbappe from PSG and Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund. After Manchester City ramped up efforts to sign Dortmund’s star, Madrid focused their efforts on Mbappe, only to be rejected at the last minute. The President of LaLiga went as far as releasing a statement which says Mbappe’s new contract “attacks the economic stability of European football,” which is ironic given the billions of euros of debt that prominent Spanish clubs find themselves in.

However, things are not so bad for the Spanish champions, Real Madrid, as they are looking to win their 14th Champions League trophy when they take on Liverpool this Saturday.

May 27, 2022 - Issue 40 of The Sport Marketeer