Kylian Mbappé is now in his third season at Real Madrid, wearing the iconic number 10 shirt for the second year running. But his story could have begun nine years earlier if PSG hadn’t thwarted Real Madrid’s plans. Neymar’s move to Paris played a major role in Mbappé’s decision to join the Ligue 1 side instead of the Spanish giants. That’s the revelation his former teammate Thiago Silva made last season.
Everything moved quickly for Mbappé. The 2016/2017 season was his first full campaign with AS Monaco. With the principality club, the young talent from Bondy reached the Champions League semi-finals, knocking out Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Thomas Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund along the way. Meanwhile, Monaco won Ligue 1 for the eighth time in their history, ending a 17-year wait. Mbappé was one of the key figures who briefly halted PSG’s dominance in the French top flight since 2013. That was the first turning point in his career.
“Why did I choose PSG? Because PSG is my city’s team”
At just 18, a few months shy of his 19th birthday, which he could have celebrated as a Real Madrid player alongside his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Sergio Ramos, Mbappé decided to reject advances from president Florentino Pérez, who was ready to put 180 million euros on the table. PSG matched that offer in the final stretch of the summer transfer window. In December 2018, Mbappé spoke to Marca about how his future unfolded. A particularly satisfying outcome. “Why did I choose PSG? Because PSG is my city’s team. It’s like a kid from Madrid who supports Real getting the chance to play for his team and going elsewhere, to another country. No, no, I wanted to play for PSG and I’m very happy with how things are going so far. There were a lot of transfer rumors, we certainly talked, but I think that’s in the past now for me and for Real Madrid. Now I play for PSG and I will defend these colors 100%.”
“At the end of the match, he came to me and said: ‘If Neymar comes, I want to come too'”
However, Mbappé didn’t simply choose to wear Paris Saint-Germain’s red and blue because of his ties to the Paris region. His former PSG captain spoke a few months ago to Ligue 1+ about the club’s current affairs. Thiago Silva revealed a previously secret conversation with Mbappé after the Trophée des Champions in the summer of 2017. “I remember the Trophée des Champions against Mbappé’s Monaco very well. At the end of the match, he came to me and said: ‘If Neymar comes, I want to come too. You can talk to the president about it. I want to be part of this team too.’ Neymar signed and Mbappé arrived.”
“An incredible friendship formed from the start”
The scales tipped in PSG’s favor for Mbappé, partly thanks to the presence of Neymar, who arrived in early August from FC Barcelona for a 222 million euro fee. The two men formed a close bond that eventually faded over time. “An incredible friendship formed from the start. Then a few years later, what happened happened. I’m a bit disappointed by how things turned out. It should have gone differently.”
