Kylian Mbappé: from the impact of joining Real Madrid to his challenge in the Euro Cup with France

To speak or write about Kylian Mbappé You have to take a breath and move forward with strides so as not to lose your step, count with your heart racing and your chest heaving, like in an obstacle course, that your career has been like this, at pure speed, that at 25 years old it has already been world champion with France, who has already left his trail for Monaco and PSG and who now arrives like a lightning bolt to Real Madrid, the team where he wants to win what he has lacked, like the Champions League, because he wants it all, that’s why he runs and He runs to soon win the Ballon d’Or, his other obsession, and since he wants it all, he also runs at lightning speed to win his first Euro Cup, his story can only be told running like him, sweating, because no one can stop Mbappé , nor this point apart.

Mbappé’s life is like his game on the field, of vertigo, of long dribbles to knock down obstacles, of feinting to the left to flee to the right, and running with his athlete’s speed, running as if the future depended on his career. rotation of the planet or the movement of the seas, a speed that makes it unusual for some to call it by the nickname Turtle. Because of that frenetic style and his way of tying the ball to his foot, as if it were sewn to him, he became the obsession of Real Madrid, who tried hard to sign him, and he waited a long time to reach that goal.

Finally, his signing for five seasons could be finalized, a long-awaited news that did not seem like news, and yet it shook the already convulsive world of football, because Mbappé, that gazelle that swallows the breeze and runs faster than the ball, He will continue his next sprint dressed in white, in the current king of the Champions League, he will arrive there after the Euro Cup – it will be presented at the Santiago Bernabéu on July 16 – but from now on his signing is an earthquake with global repercussions, if normally the Football trembles against Real Madrid, with Mbappé it is presumed that it will be an unbeatable team, with an even more devastating Mbappé, a Mbappé determined to be the best of all, tireless in the green rectangle, almost incomparable, because, who would he do it with? Can you compare? Each star enjoys its attributes and suffers from its defects, what it is is pure power, speed and technique, taking two strides and losing sight of yourself, and only having a moment of calm when you cross your arms, put your hands under your armpits and looks at the horizon with a mixture of innocence and arrogance, to decree that he is celebrating one of his greatest goals.

When the Mexican writer Juan Villoro wanted to describe it, his forceful prose was insufficient: “If Romario and Ronaldo were dead, the enigma would have a complicated, but more or less logical solution: two Brazilian souls would have transmigrated into a single body. Since these retirees are still alive, the long-awaited paranormal explanation is difficult,” he said.

Mbappé, that frenetic striker, was born to play for Real Madrid and surely the wait will be worth it, it is the team he fell in love with as a child, when he put on the Real Madrid kit to imagine that he already played there or that one day he would do so. goals with that shirt, when he wallpapered his room with posters of Ronaldo Nazario and Cristiano Ronaldowith whom a photo was taken as a child in which you can see his shy and incredulous, perhaps nervous, look at being next to a star whom he now wants to surpass.

Madrid fans, who are so used to seeing stars parade around the Bernabéu, hope to see him on the field in that impeccable suit, and they can’t wait for the shirt, which apparently will be number 9, to start selling out to sell out. . And, meanwhile, the idols welcome him. Zinedine Zidane sees him as a player who will beat all expectations. “It’s going to make history, I think it’s going to surprise everyone”Zidane said in a documentary. Cristiano Ronaldo gave him the best welcome for whoever was his young admirer: “Expectant to see you shine at the Bernabéu.”

Real Madrid, the team used to signing players who seem from another galaxy, has now added the most skilled forward of current times. Therefore, the expectation that has been generated there. According to the newspaper Ace, Mbappé will earn a salary of around 15 million euros per season. A figure well below what he received in Paris, where he had a salary of 72 million gross, but without sacrificing his image rights, with an agreement in which the player can keep 100 percent of those contracts signed prior to the signing. . And in Madrid they are rubbing their hands over the new advertising contracts that will be signed and the million-dollar business of selling shirts, in addition to the increase and impact on social networks. It is the merger of two imposing brands, the Real Madrid brand and the Mbappé brand, so marketing experts predict a commercial explosion that will go hand in hand with sporting successes.

I’m eager to see how Ancelotti manages to integrate him into his team. We are talking about a player who scores 40 goals per season and who will have to fit into a squad that is already very complementary.

Coralie Salle, a French journalist who reports for Le Parisien and Eurosport and an expert on Mbappé issues, analyzes for EL TIEMPO: “I think it was a masterstroke by Florentino Pérez. He has signed one of the best players in the world without paying a transfer fee, negotiating a salary that will not unbalance the Real Madrid locker room. Furthermore, they have signed a player with an enormous marketing impact, because today Kylian Mbappé is a brand known throughout the world and, thanks to this, he sends a signal to the Premier League by saying ‘we still know how to attract great players’ . Indeed, everything that has been said about his arrival points in that direction: great publicity on social networks and Real Madrid wants to make a great presentation at the Santiago Bernabéu in July.” The expectation is to see how Mbappé will fit into such a squad. “I’m eager to see how Ancelotti manages to integrate him into his team. We are talking about a player who scores 40 goals per season and who will have to fit into a squad that is already very complementary,” adds Coralie.

The Euro, the other obsession

“The Euro is more difficult than the World Cup,” Mbappé recently said and, as expected, his words generated a new information earthquake. More difficult? They asked themselves uneasily from South America, where they reminded him of his last World Cup in Qatar when France lost against Argentina despite the fact that Mbappé scored three goals and another on penalties, but it was not enough for glory. It must have been frustrating not being able to win his second World Cup. And Messi responded. “In the World Cup there are the best, there are generally all the world champions and I think that for some reason everyone wants to be world champion.”

The fact is that Mbappé, whether through provocation or conviction, seems determined that this Euro Cup will be his, the one he has not been able to win and the one his country misses, since it last won it 24 years ago. Mbappé arrives at the tournament in Germany with all the flashes on his head, not only because he now has the Madrid aura, but because France, which will debut today against Austria, is a candidate to win the title and Mbappé, a candidate to be the best player, more beyond some physical ailments that alarmed before the opening whistle. “Yes, it’s your time to win it. Already in Sport Bild he said that he wanted to win the European Championship because he had already won the World Cup and the Nations League. He is eagerly awaiting him with the French team,” adds Coralie.

Antoine Bourlon, from L’Équipe, says: “People in France are not very worried about the Madrid signing and how it can impact their performance. There are more questions about his state of form after a season, as he has said, with a lot of frustration, like tired and not with the physical condition that we have seen… Kylian has always been super good with the national team, and I think there are something on his mind is to clean up the image of Euro 2021 (eliminated in the round of 16 by Switzerland). “He likes challenges and this is a big one for him.”

Before the debut, Mbappé assumed a political position and came out in defense of his teammate Marcus Thuram, who demanded to vote against the extreme right in the next legislative elections in France. The issue, according to Bourlon, is more important there today than the debut in the Euro Cup itself, and Mbappé is no stranger to the situation: “The Euro is important, but we are citizens and we are not disconnected from what is happening in our country,” he said this Sunday.

And now, time for a pause, take a breath, fill your lungs, pass saliva, while Mbappé prepares his strong legs to follow his rapid movement, so that new pages narrate his meteoric career, to see if he achieves the conquest with France, to See if he can be a legend with Real Madrid.

PABLO ROMERO

EL TIEMPO journalist

@PabloRomeroET

More sports news