Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has essentially confessed that Kylian Mbappe’s high-profile, 2024 transfer from Paris-Saint Germain hasn’t been a success up until now, during an interview with AS.
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Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has essentially confessed during an interview with AS that Kylian Mbappe’s high-profile, 2024 transfer from Paris-Saint Germain hasn’t been a success up until now.
“He’s going to give us a lot and I’m sure he will succeed at Real Madrid,” Perez stated, which has raised eyebrows in Spain.
Perez was believed to have pulled off a major coup when landing Mbappe for nothing.
There were widepsread predicitions of an era of dominance about to take off. when the Frenchman was unveiled at the Bernabeu.
Madrid had just scooped a La Liga and Champions League double under Carlo Ancelotti, while Xavi Hernandez suffered through a trohpyless campaign at the end of which he walked through the FC Barcelona exit door.
As things have turned out, though, it is Barça that have won five out of six trophies on offer in Spain across the past two seasons while led by Hansi Flick.
Over in the Spanish capital, major silverware has eluded Los Blancos in that timeframe.
On Wednesday evening, Perez announced Jose Mourinho as his fourth manager in a year amid the failures of Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso.
Perez has tipped Mbappe to succeed at Real Madrid
Currently on the campaign trail and attempting to be re-elected at the expense of Enrique Riquelme on June 7, Perez backed Mbappe to be a success at the Bernabeu.
This has been taken by the Spanish media as a confession that he hasn’t been so far. Alarmingly, that comes despite the Frenchman’s impressive record of 86 goals in 103 appearances, which brought him the European Golden Boot in his first term.
“Mbappe is also one of the best players in the world. You only have to look at his numbers to see the dimension of our player. Nobody should argue with the dimension of such an extraordinary player,” Perez demanded.
“He’s going to give us a lot and I’m sure he will succeed at Real Madrid,” Perez then added.
Amid rumours that the trio which hasn’t kicked on yet might be broken up, Perez also confirmed that “of course Mbappe, Vinicius and [Jude] Bellingham are going to continue at Real Madrid”.
The President has also teased that he’ll reveal Madrid’s first big transfer later on Thursday. Mourinho and Ibrahima Konate we already know about, with Perez promising that the soon to be ex-Liverpool centre back “will not be the only one of the great defenders who are going to arrive at Real Madrid”.
That could be a nod to Denzel Dumfries, who is expected to land once Perez triggers his $23 million (€20 million) release clause at Inter Milan.
As for Mourinho, Perez said he “was very important for Real Madrid at the time when he was with us” in the early 2010s.
“He was the coach of that famous League of Records. He gave the team very high levels of competitiveness and that was very important for everything that was achieved afterwards,” Perez added.
On June 7, Real Madrid and the football world will learn whether construction magnate and seven-time Champions League winner Perez continues at the helm or is replaced by Riquelme.