Kylian Mbappe has finally signed for Real Madrid, ending a chase which dates back more than a decade.
HITC sources have confirmed that Mbappe has put pen-to-paper on a five-year deal at the Santiago Bernabeu, and he will officially join the newly crowned European champions on July 1, after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires.
Mbappe has signed for Madrid as he prepares for Euro 2024 with France, and HITC is told that French head coach Didier Deschamps has allowed him all the space he needed to finalise his future, but things have gone smoothly and has not impacted his preparations at all.
Kylian Mbappe agreed terms with Real Madrid in February
HITC revealed in February that Real Madrid and Mbappe had agreed terms on their move, but neither side was ready to announce the move out of respect to PSG and the club’s fans.
PSG were also at this point still in the Champions League and Mbappe did not want to disrupt their quest for European glory. Real for their part also wanted to wait for their season to be complete – which actually resulted in them sealing both the La Liga and Champions League crowns.
In May, HITC revealed that Mbappe and Real were discussing how the deal would be finalised and announced – as his dream move to Madrid edged close to completion.
25-year-old Mbappe first spoke to Real Madrid aged just 11, which he was training at the famed French academy at Clairefontaine – indeed most of Europe recognised his abilities then, but at 14 he opted for Monaco.
World’s most expensive teenager
Real Madrid tried for him again when he left Monaco in 2017 – but the 18-year-old headed back to his hometown of Paris, as he became the most expensive teenager in footballing history as he cost £150million.
Madrid have always maintained an interest in Mbappe and in the summer of 2022, it was widely expected that he would finally seal a move to the Spanish capital – but instead, he opted to sign a new extension at PSG, two-years with an option. But it was an option that needed to be agreed by both sides.
And the option was to become particularly newsworthy as in the summer of 2023 as PSG notified the player of their decision to exercise their half, they were shocked when Mbappe confirmed he would not be taking his.
PSG reacted furiously and he was dropped from the first-team squad and they tried to sell him to Saudi Arabia with Al-Hilal making a world-record bid – but Mbappe had no intention of moving anywhere other than Madrid.
Financial aspects of Kylian Mbappe move to Real Madrid
Now, Mbappe and Real Madrid have signed and sealed their deal, but what will that look like? HITC’s Football Financial Expert Adam Williams fills us in on the major aspects of the deal and what it means for Real and Mbappe.
“In raw financial terms, the cash Real have saved in lieu of a transfer fee is mostly wiped out by Mbappe’s astronomical signing bonus.
“But as that figure is being paid out over five years, it will be more modest than am upfront transfer fee of equivalent value in terms of how UEFA assesses financial fair play.
“With Real paying the player around £25.6m per year out of that pot as well as £12.8m salary, that equates to around £38.4m per season which will be deducted from their FFP calculation.
“That’s around a tenth of the club’s total annual wage bill but, I would argue, still represents comparatively good value in the scope of their overall playing budget.”
Mbappe has taken a pay-cut from PSG, but he is also in line to make big money off his own brand at Real.
“The Mbappe deal is unusual in one respect in that he is believed to have kept 80 per cent of his image rights, whereas Real have historically given their Galacticos a far more moderate cut.
“The specifics of their arrangement with Adidas menawhile are not known, but they probably get somewhere between 8-12 per cent of every unit sold.
“So while an Mbappe-inspired upswing in shirt sales might bank Real an extra few million per season, it won’t move the dial a huge amount if you zoom out on the graph.
“However, there is also the intangible – but significant – value that brand Mbappe creates. The club will leverage his status to negotiate even more lucrative commercial deals going forward.”
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