Kylian Mbappe already had a perfect start at Real Madrid, but everything could have turned out very differently for the superstar striker.
Mbappe left Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer this summer and his long-awaited move to Madrid has been confirmed.
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The 25-year-old constantly struggled with PSG and eventually refused to sign a new contract in order to leave for free.
PSG accepted a €300 million (£259 million) offer from Saudi Pro League team Al Hilal last summer.
However, the player immediately rejected the opportunity to move to the Gulf state.
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According to a Portuguese journalist Bruno AndradeThe Parisian giants also accepted an offer from an unnamed Premier League team.
“Direct order from Qatar: Mbappe, if he stays at PSG, he will not play a single minute,” he wrote on Twitter, translated from Portuguese.
“This is TODAY’s scenario. The French club has already accepted at least two offers for the striker, one from the Premier League and the other from Al Hilal, but no agreement has been reached between all parties.”
Chelsea were among the clubs loosely linked with a transfer for Mbappe, while he had previously spoken of his admiration for Liverpool.
In 2020 he said: “Liverpool have been a machine in the Premier League this season.
“They made it look like winning was easy, but the truth is, it’s never easy.
“Performances like this don’t just happen.
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“To be as ruthless as they were takes a lot of hard work in training and a very good coach.”
That same year he said: “What Liverpool are doing at this moment is incredible. They are like a machine, they have found a rhythm and are saying: ‘We are playing again, we are playing again’.”
“They haven’t lost a single game. When you watch, you think everything is easy, but it’s not easy. The boys are focused, they play a game every three days and they win, they win, they win.”
“The problem now is that everyone is looking at Liverpool and everyone is watching what we can do against them. So now they have to show again that they are strong. But they are a very good team with a very good coach.”
Mbappe eventually signed for Real Madrid, even taking a pay cut to do so. He will earn around £12.8 million per year, while he earned around £21 million at PSG.
However, he received a huge bonus of around £80 million for his move to the Bernabeu.
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After his performance in front of 85,000 people, Mbappe said: “I would like to thank the president [Florentino Pérez] first. He believed in me from day one. A lot has happened, but I want to say thank you.
“I want to thank everyone who worked so that I could get here. I know it was hard, but now I’m here, I’m a Real Madrid player.
“Since I was a child, I’ve had a dream: to play here. Being here means a lot to me… Now I want to fulfil another dream: to play at the level of this club, the best in the world. One thing I can say: I will give everything for this club and this badge.”
And the start of the new year was also perfect, as he scored a goal in the victory over Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup.