The Prince That Was Promised - Bienvenue Kylian Mbappé

I think Vini really loves the club. Bit like Benz, the club has stood by Vini. Have let him develop and not gotten players that would get in his way of developing. Add to that their strong stance on the racism he's suffered. I believe Vini is really grateful for the support he's had from Perez, players and the club.

He's probably winning the balon d'or in a couple of weeks and he looks up to the likes of Modric, Kroos and Benz and wants to collect collective trophies like they did. Add to that he is very close to being one of the captains. He only has alot to gain by staying. He is very unselfish so he probably won't obsess about winning Balon d'or much after winning this one but will help his teammates win theirs.

Mbappe is more self centred and will probably angle for a move away if things don't look good for him but he won't move until he achieves his personal goals imo. Don't think he's interested in racking up collective trophies like our other players instead wanting to collect the individual ones. A player like that won't be staying long at one club see Ronaldo angling for a move away whenever he wasn't the top at anything. The club reported a false price for Bale not to upset Ronaldo.

Unfortunately for Mbappe, we were already a well oiled machine before he came. Only he will get the blame if this goes belly up especially if he's caught clubbing and it affecting his performances or he's caught not pressing during games and it affecting our results.

 

Of his not "half assing it" performances. How many would you say he was even in contention for MoM?

 

Think the salary will sort it self out naturally. Don't we have a balon d'or clause in all our players' contracts.

I agree that you don't have to love the club to want to stay. But you'll only be staying for your own reasons. Kroos really loved the club for how it's treated him and other great players. He was really grateful that the club was upright with him at all times during the contract negotiations and always very professional. Things like that really creates a strong bond with players that value honesty and transparency.

Some other players will only stay at a club as long as they are in a position to win individual awards and when they dry up will look for greener pastures elsewhere. I am fine with that as long as the player is professional about their jobs. Ronaldo would fit into this category but you could never question his commitment or professional conduct hence his stay was mutually beneficial for both parties but you saw his real face when others won awards ahead of him even teammates or when he wasn't the top of the news. Players like that only appreciate RM after they've left and understand how great they had it.

 

If you ask Kroos now he'll probably have RM higher up than anywhere else. It's understandable that Kroos wanted to stay, I mean learning a new language, getting accustomed to a new culture wouldn't be appealing to many players. If LVG hadn't rejected him he'd probably be a Utd player. But Kroos was the definition of your star pupil. The kind to always sit at the front, always do the homeworks, and never be late. Kroos was a gift to any coach.

You could be on the other spectrum and love the club but not bust a single muscle for it ala Hazard but those don't stay very long as they eventually become unwanted by the club.

The club is a business so won't think like us fans. They'll appreciate employers who work for the best of the club even if it is through the obsession with individual awards. If the players main goals align with the club's the club won't have a problem whereas the fans will think of it differently.

You only need to see the contrast in Kroos' reception to that of Ronaldo.

 

Basically what you are saying that people that didn't want him to come to Real Madrid are looking for every reason to lash out at him just so they can say "we were right".
Sure, let's come back to this at end of the season.

 

Vini was approached by Saudi with an insane offer. I'm sure he'll use it to leverage when his renewal would be negotiated. However he still rejected it, money isn't the only motivator for all players.

Kroos had a certain opinion on players that were accepting offers there. Doubt he'd ever make a move for just money.

 

I’ll reiterate this again…

That’s why I find players kissing the badge corny AF.

 

So was Mbappe (larger offer in fact of 1 billion last summer) and every other top player as well. Most top players will take the most money they can as long as long as it’s at one of the elite clubs and a top league.

If they’re late in their careers, they’ll take it like Benzema, Ronaldo, Kante, etc.

 

Unless you’re born in Madrid or a Madrid youth product, there is no loyalty. It’s a job first and foremost. What’s more, your maximum earning potential timeframe is 5 years (ages 22-27) to sign a big contract typically. You can’t afford to be emotional about it. It’s not like other jobs where you have e 40 years of earning potential.

 

A lot of these loves the clubs are PR stunts. Why would they love the club anyways? Unless they are homegrown talents. The club is neither a religion nor a country. It’s just another sporting institution.

it’s a contractual job. And it’s a high paying one at that.

 

Yup. His image is tarnished for good in France. Not sure if he cares given how self-involved he’s become.

People will temporarily forget if he plays well. But he’s not going to be loved unless he behaves like an honorable person for a while.

Also, if players emerge that are just as good as Mbappe (Olise, Barcola, etc)… then Dechamps will drop him. He dropped Benzema so there is a lot of precedent here.

It’s a defining moment in his career. Either he gets back to being what he was in Jan 2023 or he begins his fade.

 

There is speculation in France that Mbappe’s passion for football is gone. Instead of looking to always get better, he’s happy to play just well enough to maintain his status and lifestyle.

Reason for the narrative is that he's lost athleticism. This only happens either due to injury or lack of training. He hasn’t been injured much… so it has to be poor training combined with an unhealthy lifestyle.

A lot of red flags going up.

 

Looks like the tarnished French striker is the Real Madrid archetype.

 

Mbappe already collected the bag. Cashed in before plenty of others. Please don't give us that dumb speech about his move for to PSG was a boyhood dream....

 

This is honestly such a nothing story to me, I’m shocked it’s being discussed for pages. He’s not allowed to travel? He should stay behind closed doors for every minute of a 2 week break? Are we being serious or just trolling?


I’d bet if he was seen at a bakery in Madrid, we would be seeing the same faux outrage ‘omg he’s eating too many carbs he clearly doesn’t care about football anymore.’

 

Well initially it was. His father runs the largest youth academy in Paris and they are avid PSG fans. Mbappe went to Paris partially for himself and partially for his father.

Also, he asked for a guaranteed regular position. With Bale here, Madrid wouldn't give it to him. So he went to PSG as they did make the guarantee.

The 2022 contract was for money. No doubt on that one. I couldn't refuse that one either tbh. It's not like he had to go to Saudi. He made almost 70 million a year net for 2 years. Only reason he came to Madrid now on a discount was that he made that kind of money previously.

 

Benzema made some real dumb comments back in the day too.

he started by "my heart is in Algeria but my football is in France." Then he had the underaged prostitute thing with Ribery. Finally, he called Deschamps a racist for leaving him off due to the prostitute case. Deschamp's house was vandalized and his son was harrassed after the racism comment.

If he had just kept his mouth shut, Benzema would have been back on the team the next go around. Deschamps had defended him during his really rough times. He went 1000+ minutes without a goal for France and Deschamps had his back.

Mbappe better be careful too. Deschamps has his back for now. But if the piano gets too heavy, Deschamps will drop it.

 

I understand where you're coming from, but that doesn't mean there can't be genuine passion for our club just because they're professional footballers and it's their job.

Couple of examples.

1) There are professional players who actually grew up abroad as fans of Real Madrid. We are a global brand, and these aren't the 1980's. I don't think their passion is any less legitimate than that of a homegrown fan. Rodrygo is one such player, who says that everyone who knows him knows he's always been a Real Madrid fan. Even had an all Real Madrid birthday party at 10 y.o. I never think that Rodrygo is faking it when he kisses the badge or does a Cristiano celebration.

2) Players who come play for us for a decade or more and become part of our history, even though they never played for our youth system. Example = Luka Modric. When Luka kisses the badge, there ain't anyone on this planet who thinks he's just pretending. His life is forever linked to Real Madrid, it's understandable he loves our club.

There are also players like our canteranos who started their career with us but had to leave to get regular playing time. Like Joselu for example.When he came back he always kissed the badge, and you could see how much it meant to him that he gets to play in the white shirt.

When players just join the club they kiss the badge cause you just have to do that. It's not that you have to, but you'll be damned if you don't, kind of. So I get why you'd be consider it to be cynical. There are plenty of examples of footballers who grew up supporting one team and then represented their fiercest rivals professionally. Cristiano was a Benfica fan but played for Sporting. Carragher and Rooney were Everton fans, but represented Liverpool and United. Solskjaer was a Liverpool fan growing up, Terry was a United fan, Iniesta was a Real Madrid fan and the list goes on and on.