Kylian Mbappé’s move to Real Madrid hasn’t gone as planned since his free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain this summer. While one pundit has suggested the French star should consider a return to his former club, a journalist remains skeptical about any reunion happening soon.
The 25-year-old, signed through 2029, has faced a challenging start to life in Madrid. His struggles were evident in Real Madrid’s 2-0 loss to Liverpool on Matchday 5 of the UEFA Champions League group phase.
Mbappé’s El Clásico debut on October 26 was a particularly tough outing, with Real Madrid enduring a heavy 4-0 defeat to Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu. Just days later, they suffered a 3-1 loss to AC Milan in Champions League action.
Ale Moreno pours cold water on Kylian Mbappé performance
Kylian Mbappe
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On Wednesday, with Vinicius sidelined, Mbappé had the opportunity to shine in his preferred role against Liverpool. Instead, the evening turned into a forgettable one for the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner.
This past weekend, Mbappé scored in the match against Getafe, but the forward has yet to appear in meaningful matches. Despite this encouraging performance,ESPN FC pundit Ale Moreno states that Mbappé didn’t have a good game.
“There’s so much more for Kylian Mbappé to do for this team, and you sense it in the reaction of the fans at Santiago Bernabéu, where they’re desperate, desperate to get behind him,” Moreno said. “He scores a goal, and the stadium explodes.
“They’re thinking, ‘Okay, the confidence is here now. Here we go.’ Now we’re going to see the very best of Kylian Mbappé. He played well, was dangerous in front of goal, created chances, had an impact on the game, and scored a goal. But when it comes to the standards of Kylian Mbappé, they’re different.
“We evaluate him on greatness, and you want those sorts of instances where they create space for him, where it’s isolation, where he gets in behind, and can find that final product. It just wasn’t there today. Of course, the bigger picture is that Real Madrid did what they had to do—they got the win [on Sunday].”