Mercato PSG – From Monaco to Paris: Kylian Mbappé, constant pressure and permanent bursts

Kylian Mbappé did not wait to be the center of attention to demand to be considered as such. He built his career, from his infancy, on mysterious declarations and sometimes more frank threats on potential inclinations to leave. He has always maintained almost permanent pressure on his clubs, which were placed in a weak position during negotiations. Smart, he now knows he is powerful enough to lead the dance as he sees fit. But even before becoming the superstar he is, he knew how to go about achieving his ends.

At the start of 2016, before signing Kylian’s first pro contract, the Mbappé already knew very well what they wanted. They ask for sporting guarantees: how does the staff of Monaco intend to get their career off the ground? Monaco responds with an ultimatum: either the 17-year-old accepts the club’s proposal, or he will play with the kids of his age in the lower divisions. But Arsenal and PSG are already watching over him. The young promise is already in a position of strength: evolving contract at 85,000 euros per month plus 3 million signing bonus. He has achieved his ends.

And to threaten: “Some will say that he is only seventeen, that you have to calm down, but it’s not impatience, because the club itself said that he was going to play . As he needs at his age, there will be a real reflection to be carried out in the winter transfer window.” As if by magic, he returns to the rotation in October for the start of his mad ascent.

In Paris, he will wait two years before embarrassing his management but, for four years, the pressure has been constant on his club. On May 19, 2019 during the UNFP trophy presentation, he engulfed the ceremony by dropping a bomb: “This is an important moment for me. A turning point in my career, the time to have more responsibilities. It may be at PSG, with great pleasure, or it may be elsewhere for a new project.“. A calculated output: “I said what I had to say. When we are on stage we can send messages, I think I sent mine“, he justifies himself a few moments after the first explosion.

Spain, already, receives the shocks. Summer is feverish. His coach at the time, Thomas Tuchel, is upset: “Everyone is invited, every day, to take responsibility, be on time, eat professional, sleep professional, play professional. It is not necessary to make a ‘speech’“. Mbappé will apologize, Paris will put up the barbed wire. A blow for nothing. But he appears as a player who wants to take charge of his destiny, even if he knows that it is very difficult to leave PSG if the Qatar does not hear it that way.

He has one year left on his contract when, on May 23, 2021, he again sets fire to PSG on the sidelines of the UNFP ceremony: “What I want is to win, to feel in a place where I can really win, where there is a solid project around me“, he declares at the microphone of Canal +. We discuss with the club, we will see what will happen“. “I asked to leave, because from the moment when I did not want to extend, I wanted the club to have a transfer indemnity to have a quality replacement”, he confided to RMC at The pressure was enormous on the PSG which, it seems, heard the message.

Achraf Hakimi, Georginio Wijnaldum, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos and especially Lionel Messi arrive in Paris. Mbappe”has no excuse to do anything else“Than staying,” says President Nasser al-Khelaïfi, who is already appearing in a communication battle with his best player.

An extension and a truce… of five months

A few months later, he gets the biggest payday in history during an extension to great fanfare until 2024, with an option to go until 2025. Paris bends over backwards for its star who becomes the stone cornerstone of the project. Luis Campos, the one who made him sign his first contract, even arrives in Paris to please him. Five months later, new crisis. Echoes filter through the press about his desire to leave PSG from the winter transfer window.

However, he did send a letter to PSG to specify that he would not extend for an additional year a contract which will end in June 2024. He knows full well that this decision potentially places him on the transfer list if Paris does not does not want to part with it for free. Mbappé puts pressure on his club while taking care to protect his image. He doesn’t want to be the villain of the story. So far, from Monaco to Paris, his strategy has always worked. What about this summer?