Kylian Mbappé has finally confirmed football’s worst-kept secret with a social media announcement that he will leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer.
The 25-year-old player is expected to join Real Madrid, a club that he idolized as a child and to which he has been linked for a long time. It will improve a already formidable team featuring Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Jr and Toni Kroos, and will also soon include Brazilian teen sensation Endrick.
In a seven-year spell at PSG, after leaving Monaco aged 18, Mbappe won six league titles and scored 287 goals in 371 matches, although he never managed to win the Champions League, coming closest in a final defeat to Bayern Munich in 2020.
“I always said that I would speak to you when the time came and that is why I wanted to announce to everyone that it is my last year at Paris Saint-Germain,” said Mbappe. [my contract] and the adventure will end in a few weeks.
“I will play my last game at Parc des Princes on Sunday. There are many emotions, many years where I had the opportunity and the great honor of being a member of the biggest French club, one of the best in the world, which allowed me to arrive here, to have my first experience in a club with a lot of pressure, to grow as a player while being alongside some of the best in history, to meet many people and grow as a man with all the glory and the mistakes I made.”
Mbappé will play abroad for the first time in his career when he joins Real Madrid.
“I never thought it would be so difficult to leave my country,” he said. “League 1 [is a] championship that I have always known, but I think I need a new challenge after seven years. It’s difficult and of course there are some people I want to thank above all, they are the fans.
“I know I’m not the most demonstrative player, I didn’t always respond to the love you all gave me for seven years, but I never wanted to cheat. I always wanted to be effective. PSG is a club that never leaves anyone indifferent. We can love it or hate it. I made the choice to love and I did it for seven years, with ups and downs of course, but I don’t regret a single moment since I signed with this prestigious club. It is a club that I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Mbappé is the second most expensive player in history, behind only Neymar, after his initial loan from Monaco was made permanent by PSG for £165.7m. He will join Real Madrid for free after his contract expires on June 30.
PSG, who have already sealed the French title, host Toulouse on Sunday ahead of away games against Nice and Metz next week to round off the league season. Mbappé’s last game as a PSG player will be the French Cup final, against Lyon, on Saturday, May 25th.
