Perhaps no contract in history, certainly football history, has been subject to as much scrutiny as Kylian Mbappe’s new one with Paris Saint-Germain.
The French forward’s contract was due to expire at the end of June and every twist and turn was told in detail over the course of months.
Real Madrid remained calm throughout the process, briefing that they were confident Mbappe would end up in Madrid by the end of the summer.
According to French journalist Frederic Hermel, with good reason. Hermel told RMC that Mbappe had already given Real Madrid a ‘yes’ on the 9th or 10th of May, in a story carried by Diario AS.
What happened in the intervening 12 days to change his mind is the great unknown. That said, supposedly Real Madrid began to suspect something was wrong when Mbappe announced that he would be revealing his future before the Champions League final, which was not in their plans.
As Real Madrid seek to recover from this blow, many are asking whether there may be some bitterness in Madrid towards Mbappe. More pertinently, whether that bitterness would impede a future move to Madrid. One way or another, Florentino Perez is unlikely to be content with how things played out.