A fair few eyebrows were raised within the footballing world this morning as Mundo Deportivo reported that Barcelona are trying to sign Kylian Mbappe.
This would be the transfer story of the century if cash-strapped Barca went out and signed a player who would likely be one of the most expensive of all-time.
Indeed, Mbappe would cost a potential world-record fee at this point, and, to put it bluntly, Barca are skint.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise that this rumour isn’t true.
Indeed, the fact that this report has emerged on December 28th makes it more than a tad suspicious. After all, this day is the equivalent of Spain’s April Fool’s Day.
Spanish April Fool’s Day Explained
Spaniard celebrate el Día de los Santos Inocentes (Holy Innocents’ Day) on the 28th of December each year, and that is an invitation to play pranks on whoever is gullible enough to fall for your jokes.
It has become tradition for the Spanish press to make up completely nonsense transfer rumours on this day, and that’s why AS are reporting that Mbappe is Barcelona-bound.
Other sites run stories about Lionel Messi joining Real Madrid on a yearly basis, while Cristiano Ronaldo is also often the butt of many of these jokes.
The reality is that these stories are nothing more than just good-hearted pranks meant to fool the wider footballing world into believing these stories.
Our advice is to not believe anything you read in the Spanish press today. The likes of AS, Sport, Mundo Deportivo and El Confidencial will all be trying their hand at coming up with the best pranks today, and while there will be some legitimate reports surfacing from Spain, it’s best to take anything published on the 28th with a real pinch of salt.
Sadly for Barcelona supporters, Kylian Mbappe will not be headed to Camp Nou anytime soon.
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