PSG scares Mbappé

PSG’s defeat at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid (3-1), which meant the elimination of the Parisian team from the Champions League in the round of 16, very far from the final rounds of the competition, is the symptom of an illness that has afflicted the French club since it began this project with a view to being European champion: no matter how much it invests, no matter how much money it spends on transfers and exorbitant salaries, it fails to compete on a regular basis with the old soccer liners.

And that reality undoubtedly marks the decision that Kylian Mbappé will make next summer, which will be none other than not to renew with PSG to play for Real Madrid, the same one that he had made a year ago and that he could not see fulfilled due to the refusal of the club chaired by Nasser Al Khelaïfi to negotiate his transfer, Despite the fact that Florentino Pérez put 200 million euros on the table for a player who had less than 12 months left on his contract.

PSG’s plan was to sign a groundbreaking season in Europe, bringing together Messi, Neymar and Mbappé in attack, and win the title to show the forward that nowhere else would he have more options to be champion of the Old Continent. It is not without irony that it was Madrid, a Madrid between the wars, awaiting renewal and waiting for Mbappé himself, PSG’s executioner in the tournament.

From Real Madrid, total confidence has always been transmitted that Mbappé will arrive next summer for free, once his contract with PSG ends. The agreement is not signed, although it could be from January 1, as the player is in the last six months of his contractbut the verbal agreement between the parties is total and the whites’ comeback against PSG has greatly reinforced Madrid’s position in this regard: Mbappé already knows that in white he will have many more options to compete for the European Cup and, in addition, for the Ballon d’Or, on whose podium he has not yet managed to get. Playing in a mid-profile competition like the French one has not helped him in this regard.

Madrid, PSG and millions of euros

Madrid’s victory over PSG was proof that money alone does not build a champion team, although it certainly helps. Qatar took over ownership of PSG at the end of the 2010-11 season, and since the summer of 2011 they have invested no less than 1.4 billion euros in transfers (according to the figures collected in the Transfermarkt database); in the case of Madrid, that amount has been about 1,100 million. But he has a trap.

Well, if you look at the balance of both clubs, the difference between sales and transfers, you can see that since 2011 PSG has barely sold for a value of 455 million and Madrid, for 907 million. Thus, the difference is -950 million in the case of the French club and just -194 million in the white case. And the European distance between the two in this time could not have been greater: in the last ten editions of the Champions League, Madrid has been champion in four, semifinalist in another four and fell in the round of 16 twice; PSG reached a final, was a semifinalist once, fell in the quarterfinals four times and in the second round another four (counting this edition), in addition to not participating in 2011-12 for not getting a ticket.

Mbappé arrived at PSG after a 2016-17 season in which, despite being an unexpected guest, Monaco reached the semifinals of the Champions League, Thanks largely to the striker, fresh from the academy: he scored two goals against City to eliminate them in the round of 16, another three against Dortmund in the quarterfinals and scored one against Juventus in the semifinals. The champion that year was Real Madrid, who swept Juve in Cardiff (1-4), but Mbappé chose PSG to continue his progression in his country and in his hometown.

However, at PSG he saw how Madrid himself kicked them out in the second round of 2017-18, as did United in the same round in 2018-19; In 2019-20, the post-confinement Champions League, PSG reached the final, where Bayern won the final, although the Parisian team competed well, reaching the semifinals last year, where City won both games. Until reaching this year, in which Mbappé has not been able to do more to go through the round: he scored two goals, and another two that were annulled for offside, caused a penalty that Messi did not know how to score and was the main, almost the only argument of Pochettino’s men in attack. But not even for those reasons did PSG accompany him, who has scared Mbappé to the delight of Real Madrid.