Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid, commented on the persistent rumours that the young French striker Kylian Mbappe would be joining the Spanish side this summer.
It is, of course, a story that for months seems to be without end. The young Kylian Mbappe had a brilliant season for French champions AS Monaco. This led to many of the world’s top clubs scouting him. Real Madrid, considered by some the largest fish in the footballing pond, was said to be heavily pursuing signing the 18-year-old. Mbappe acknowledged that there was indeed interest from clubs and said he would have to consider his future at Monaco.
Perez may have finally set the record straight about a possible deal by asking a very simple question. “If Mbappe joins Real, which player will have to leave?”. This brings up a point that many had made about this type of move. For such a young player, no matter how talented (and Mbappe is without doubt very talented), it will be incredibly difficult to find playing time for a team like Real. And it may be very easy for a young player to lose his way.
“We cannot forget what happened to Pogba. They also said we had to sign him. But we can’t forget that the squad has 24 players and only 11 play. At this moment, we have the best squad in the world,” Perez tells esRadio.
“[Zinedine] Zidane has been following the player for several years, as he did with [Raphael] Varane. But at the age of 18, few play for Real Madrid. We must have patience. If we buy Mbappe, who comes out?”
Mbappe has also recently broken into France’s national squad. He has done so along with a number of other young, highly skilled players. The stage looks set for him to become one of the world’s leading strikers. However, even Florentino Perez seems to agree that, really, there is no reason to rush things at this juncture.
