The Kylian Mbappe transfer series is making us hate the player AND the game | OneFootball

Kylian Mbappe has been linked with moves to Liverpool and Real Madrid.

As if the January transfer window wasn’t already tedious enough, this week has seen the latest chapter of the never-ending Kylian Mbappe ‘will he, or won’t he?’ transfer saga begin. Again. The question is now less about his final destination, but what damage has it done to the reputation of the player?

This is arguably the best player in the world – with respect to Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland – but certainly the most exciting and most box-office. He is a World Cup winner, the scorer of only two World Cup final hat-tricks and so on.

But outside of acknowledging his rather meaningless domestic goals for Paris Saint-Germain – the latest a hat-trick against sixth-tier Revel –  discussions around the 25-year-old largely focus on money, contracts and the tug of war between his current club and Real Madrid.

The latest in a litany of ‘major updates’ on his future came this week, and there were several of them, all contradicting the one that came before.

According to reports from various sources, Mbappe had rejected Real Madrid, then he had agreed to join them, the Spanish giants had set a deadline for him to make his decision and finally, they had decided to move on from him and focus their attention on signing Erling Haaland. Got all of that?

Now breathe.

The apparent truth is that the player is still to decide his future, which is what he communicated to PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi last week prior to the French equivalent of the Community Shield, in which he netted the second in a 2-0 win to secure Luis Enrique his first ‘trophy’ in charge of the Paris club.

Mbappe himself said: “I haven’t made a choice. With the agreement I made with the President last summer, whatever my decision, we managed to protect all parties and preserve the club’s serenity for the challenges ahead, which remains the most important thing.”

That agreement came after he signalled his intention to swap the French capital for the Spanish capital last summer – not for a fee, but on a free transfer this summer.

This came just a year after the beginning of the saga, when Mbappe teased his intention to move for the first time before signing a contract extension until 2024, with a one-year extension that he will not be exercising.

His U-turn in the summer of 2022 came after serious pressure and influence from the PSG president and, by proxy, the Qatari state, who own PSG and wanted all of their star players in situ for the World Cup that shambolically followed in the winter.

French President Emmanuel Macron also sensationally revealed he played a role in ‘helping’ Mbappe decide to stay at the Parc des Princes, which was undoubtedly about more than just football.

Mbappe’s role in geopolitics (what a phrase) grew further last summer when he refused to entertain the idea of a one-year contract with Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal when they had a £260m bid accepted by PSG.

Human-rights abusing Qatar and Saudi Arabia thwarted in one fell swoop does deserve some praise from the French politician player.

All this, on top of the frankly ridiculous salaries bandied around for Mbappe’s services, means he is quickly becoming the most obvious representation of the ills of the sport in the modern day. Whether that is his fault is up for debate, but it does paint a grim picture.

Real Madrid are no shrinking violets but are the best of a bad lot and do appear the best destination for the French captain to continue his club career.

It is a club career that really needs a shot in the arm – he has only played in one Champions League final in his six seasons in Paris, and even that came with the shortened 2020 Covid knockout rounds. It feels unlikely a second will come this year.

A move to the Bernabeu also presents Mbappe with the opportunity to become one of the true greats of the sport. In recent times, doing it at Real or Barcelona has felt like a requirement to become immortalised – it is why Haaland might eventually make the move too.

Realistically, that will rule out Liverpool. Winning everything with the Reds has never hauled Mo Salah onto the Ballon d’Or podium and Mbappe will know there is a ceiling there that does not exist in Madrid.

But unlike when other Galacticos made the move, chiefly Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo, there will not be an overwhelming feeling of excitement and awe at the best player in the world moving to the biggest club in the world. Instead, it will be one of relief as a tired transfer saga is finally put to bed.

But realistically, what odds on a new two-year contract and two more seasons of the Mbappe transfer series?