Kylian Mbappe spent seven years at PSG and left as their all-time record scorer
He at last joined Real Madrid over the summer after a number of years of links
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By DOMINIC HOGAN
Published: 02:26 EST, 9 December 2024 | Updated: 02:26 EST, 9 December 2024
The summer window at last brought an end to one of football's most drawn out and seemingly inevitable transfer sagas in the modern era, with Kylian Mbappe at last joining Real Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain.
The French captain had become the most brilliant of jewels in an already gaudy crown at the Paris-based outlet, even while playing alongside a litany of living legends, smashing records along the way.
However, with the player making no secret of his ambitions to play for Real Madrid one day, links with the Spanish titans resurfaced whenever his PSG contract entered the home straight.
Yet time and again he would renew his deal, and stay in the French capital, his most recent extension before his departure drawing attention for the finances involved, before finally calling time on that chapter of his career this summer.
To Madrid Mbappe went, but things have been far from ideal; five goals came in his first eight league games, but a recent run of form has seen him come under increasing scrutiny - not helped by being dropped from the France side and missing two penalties - though he looks to be turning the corner at last.
Now, though, the 25-year-old has opened up on his departure from PSG, picking out where he thinks things went wrong at his former club, the 'obsession' with winning the Champions League - and his parting words with the Emir of Qatar.
Kylian Mbappe at last joined Real Madrid over the summer following years of links with the star
At Paris Saint-Germain Mbappe won numerous domestic titles and left as their all-time top scorer
The French captain has opened up on his departure from the club he joined in 2017 aged just 18
'PSG, the club meant a lot to me,' Mbappe began in an interview with Clique on Canal+. 'I spent seven years, it's a super intense place, in the good and the bad. I spent seven extraordinary years. Maybe the mistake I made was that I mixed everything up.
'I had conflicts with people, I defended my rights as a player, but that didn't represent the club. I never mixed everything up with the players, the people at the Campus, the people on staff.'
His final season with PSG began in somewhat acrimonious circumstances after reports suggested that that campaign would indeed end in his departure, and not yet another contract renewal.
The club had reportedly been keen to receive a fee for a player considered amongst the very best in the world and cash in over the summer of 2023 with a year left on his deal, but no move came and leave for free he did 12 months later.
Tensions began to ferment, and the fact that his official announcement that he would be leaving at the end of 2023-24 did not come through club channels hardly helped. Rather than depart the almost-all-conquering hero to great pomp and theatre, there was no ceremony, and some fans made their opinions heard.
'With the supporters, I could have been more expressive. They say to themselves "Kylian doesn't care". They think it was a hobby before going to Madrid .
'I still watch PSG matches. I know the club by heart. When they lose, I know how difficult it is. We have to talk about PSG, because it's the club that sells. It's PSG that feeds everyone.
'I've always kept this connection with PSG. It's a relationship that can't be cut off like that.'
Mbappe's initial form at Real Madrid has been relatively underwhelming and he has been dropped by France
He left PSG for free over the summer after turning down an optional one-year contract extension
He added: 'I still watch PSG matches, I played there for seven years. I know very well what state of mind the players are in, how difficult it is because everyone is picking on people with this obsession with the Champions League. I have always kept in touch with PSG.'
It is no secret that the French club are intent on at last winning the Champions League trophy. It sounds facile to say it, but there's an argument that the trophy would mean more to PSG than most others.
Rather than just the sign that you are the best team on the continent - for one season at least - finally winning the trophy would at last bring vindication to a project that is into its second decade without ever really coming to fruition.
There aren't many clubs in the world that have spent as much money as PSG in the last 15 years, and while they have been almost insurmountable in France - 34 domestic trophies since 2009-10 - they still lack the one honour that would officially rank them among Europe's elite.
It doesn't help either that at different times in recent years they have boasted a dazzling arsenal including - but not limited to - Lionel Messi, Neymar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani, Thiago Silva, Angel Di Maria, Marquinhos and Marco Verratti.
'Will PSG win the Champions League? For now, I don't hope so because I want to win it,' Mbappe joked.
'In the future, I hope they win because people have suffered a lot. But not now, because I have to win it.
'My story in Paris, I wrote it. I broke records, I won titles. Now I'm at the best club in the world.'
Mbappe admitted he still watches his former side but insists he is now at the world's best club
Mbappe will be hoping to finally win the Champions League with serial winners Real Madrid
Reports hinted at a deterioration in Mbappe's relationship with club chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi last season, but the 25-year-old was quick to make clear that he parted on good terms with his former side.
With the club perhaps sensing that the battle to keep hold of their prize player was all but offer, reports emerged that the Emir of Qatar himself would intervene to try and turn the tide.
However, according to Mbappe, the Emir in fact understood that his heart was set on Madrid, and instead thanked the player for his seven years of service and chose not to table one last counter offer.
'I was in the car and news came out that the Emir of Qatar was going to make an irresistible offer to stay at PSG.
He told me: "You see, they think I'm going to make you an offer but you've decided to leave and I respect your decision. You want to achieve your dream of going to Real Madrid, thank you for everything."
'That touched me. I told him that I would give my best until the end of the season.'
'Relations with the Emir have always been great.'