Real Madrid struck a psychological blow to Kylian Mbappe when he expressed his ambition to recruit Man City’s Erling Haaland.
Mbappe enjoys a monthly income of 6 million euros at PSG, the highest in the team. Photo: Reuters.
“I’m a Parisian and still have a contract with PSG. So the next step in my career is to win the Champions League,” Goal quoted Mbappe on April 13. The new France captain believes that he still has goals to strive for at PSG, despite the club’s poor performance in the European arena over the years.
Real’s psychological tricks
French media reported that the contract between Mbappe and PSG has a clause that allows him to unilaterally terminate his contract in the summer of 2024. The only thing the French player needs to do is to notify the team leadership a few months in advance.
In February, Real Madrid was said to be patiently waiting for Mbappe to join as a free agent. However, in the past few weeks, Real has signaled that it wants to recruit Man City’s Erling Haaland. Even, “Los Blancos” also set the time to recruit the Norwegian striker in the summer of 2024. That’s when Karim Benzema left the team and Haaland’s contract release clause with Man City was activated.
Public opinion believes that this is a trick that Real targets Haaland in the context of the team having to meet Man City in the Champions League semi-finals. If Haaland is wavering and performing poorly, it is a great success for Real.
But if the La Liga club really sees Haaland as an alternative to Mbappe, it is a warning to the French striker. Everyone knows Mbappe loves Real and wants to play at the Bernabeu in the future. But the possibility of “Los Blancos” buying both Haaland and Mbappe is not easy to come true.
The fact that Mbappe repeatedly considered leaving PSG and the unclear terms of Haaland’s contract with Man City created opportunities for the Madrid media. Real is facing the option of recruiting two of the best strikers in the world today. Whoever comes to the Bernabeu to play, it will be a quality addition.
Mbappe and Haaland both have impressive goalscoring talents. Photo: Reuters.
PSG must have an attractive project
Behind Mbappe’s statement to stay, PSG clearly understand they need an ambitious and attractive enough plan to convince the French striker to give up his intention to leave the team.
Even in the first year of his new contract, Mbappe immediately tasted the feeling of failure. AS believes the French striker is wasting time at PSG when the team has been eliminated for the second year in a row in the round of 16 of the Champions League. The project of combining Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar gradually collapsed. Ligue 1 is the only arena for PSG to compete for the title this season.
Poor transfer work is one of the reasons for PSG’s failure. Robert Lewandowski, Aurelien Tchouameni or Ousmane Dembele are PSG’s top targets in the summer of 2022. However, the team only brought back B plans like Carlos Soler, Fabian Ruiz, Renato Sanches or Hugo Ekitike. These are not the pieces that helped the Parisian club win the Champions League.
On the coaching bench, Christophe Galtier failed to make an impression. The lack of prestige and inexperience in the European arena is the major weakness of the French coach. It would not be surprising if Mr. Galtier lost his seat to Zinedine Zidane, Luis Enrique or Julian Nagelsmann this summer.
Besides, PSG also gradually realized the mistake of not giving players the opportunity to train themselves. Mike Maignan, Kingsley Coman, Adrien Rabiot or Christopher Nkunku, who grew up from the PSG academy, are all making a splash in Europe. In particular, goalkeeper Maignan has just played a hero to help AC Milan reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.
French media believe that PSG will carry out a drastic reform, starting from recruiting young local players instead of welcoming expensive stars as before. Khephren Thuram (Nice), Marcus Thuram, Manu Kone (with Monchengladbach) Randal Kolo Muani (Frankfurt) or Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen) are the faces targeted by PSG.
The exception lies in the striker position. Le Parisien said Harry Kane is in the sights of Advisor Luis Campos. In addition, with high performance at Napoli, Victor Osimhen is also an option to be considered. These are the deals that cost a lot of money for PSG.
The Paris capital club are doing everything to keep Mbappe, including making him the center of the team’s play. The possibility of liquidating Messi or Neymar to serve this ambition.
