Last week marked the beginning of the end for the longest-running, most high-profile transfer saga of recent years. Kylian Mbappé has told Paris Saint-Germain that he'll leave the club when his contract expires this summer, and that's a significant step in the superstar forward's journey toward joining Real Madrid, the club that has coveted him for so long.
If you feel like we've been here before, you're right: Mbappé could have chosen Madrid before he signed for PSG in 2017. He could have arrived in Madrid in the summer of 2021, when PSG rebuffed a string of offers, or in 2022 when everybody -- including Mbappé and Madrid -- was convinced that he would sign on a free transfer before he bowed to PSG pressure and renewed his contract.
Last June, Mbappé's revelation that he would not be extending his contract any further -- meaning he would be available in 2024 as a free agent -- left Madrid hopeful of a deal, but again, Mbappé stayed in Paris. That meant more months of speculation before ESPN reported on Feb. 3 that the player was finally ready to confirm his long-anticipated departure, with Madrid the likely destination.
Madrid and Mbappé are in talks, with the club optimistic of reaching an agreement soon. In the meantime, ESPN examines the player's decision-making process over recent months to assess where that decision leaves Mbappé, Real Madrid and PSG.
Mbappé's perspective: How he finally made his decision
On paper, it might look like an easy decision.
Mbappé, who was born in Paris, has spent seven seasons at PSG. In Ligue 1, France's top league, he won everything on multiple occasions. He also tried to bring the Champions League crown to Paris for the first time ever, coming closest in 2020 when they lost to Bayern Munich in the final. He broke pretty much every individual club record possible -- including surpassing Pedro Miguel Pauleta, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edison Cavani as the top scorer in the club's history with 244 goals (as of Feb. 20) -- and at 25, he will join Real Madrid, the biggest club in the world who have been trying to sign him since he was 11 years old, as a free agent.
Easy, right? Not so much if you are Mbappé or a member of his family.
Paris is their home. PSG is the club they love, a place Kylian arrived in 2017 and where he developed into the player he is today. The relationship between the Mbappé family and the people in charge of the club has not always been idyllic, to say the least. He was dropped from the first team squad and sent to train on his own for two weeks, also missing the preseason tour last summer, after telling the club he was not going to trigger the option for a third season in his contract. (The stand-off was so contentious that the French players' union spoke up on Mbappé's behalf.)
"It was not easy because Kylian is so smart, so driven and so determined to win and be the star," a source familiar with the situation told ESPN. "The power struggle at times between the leaders of the club, which Kylian is part of, could be difficult."
There was often tension: Mbappé didn't get on with Leonardo, the former sporting director, as PSG kept falling short in Europe despite the abundant resources at Leonardo's disposal. (For his part, Leonardo blamed Mbappe, saying in a 2023 interview that "it's entirely possible to win [the Champions League] without him" a year after leaving the club.)
Mbappé also clashed at times with club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, much of it connected to the forward's contract situation. After Mbappé wrote to the club in June 2023 of his intentions to not sign another deal, PSG said publicly that they would listen to offers. During the unveiling of new manager Luis Enrique in July last year, Al-Khelaifi spoke plainly about PSG's stance on their superstar player: "I don't want to repeat it every time: if Kylian wants to stay, we want him to stay. But he needs to sign a new contract ... We don't want to lose the best player in the world for free -- we can't do that. This is a French club.
"[Mbappé] said he would never leave for free. If he changes his mind today, it's not my fault. We don't want to lose the best player in the world for free, that's very clear."
These are just examples of a relationship that's not always been smooth, though he is happy at the Parc des Princes. What's more, his brother Ethan, 17, made his professional debut this year and will be part of the first-team squad next season, expected to sign a new deal soon.
The Mbappés' life in Paris is good. His extended family is there: Kylian is able to see his niece and nephew grow up. He also has two of his best friends in football, Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembélé, alongside him in the PSG first-team.
When Mbappé met with Al-Khelaifi last week, telling him personally that he had decided to leave the club, the France star asked him not to make it more difficult by trying to convince him to stay. Two years ago, Al-Khelaifi made a perfect pitch and was able to win Mbappé over by offering him decision-making power at the club -- this allowed him to replace Leonardo (whom he didn't like) with his friend Luis Campos as sporting director, be part of discussions over transfers and recruitment, as well as becoming the club's penalty-taker instead of Neymar.
In essence, it put the France forward at the heart of the club's dealings in addition to giving him the biggest contract ever seen in European football.
There would be none of that this time; the French superstar didn't want feelings involved, otherwise it would have been harder to decide. "He made it clear this time that there would be no U-turn. He had made his mind up, it was his choice, the right choice at the right time and there would be no way back" another source added.
In the end, the pull of history was going to lead Mbappé to Madrid. From as young as he can remember, he wanted to wear the famous white shirt and play at the Bernabeu, and Mbappé felt this was the perfect time. We've been here before, of course -- it wasn't perfect two years ago when, out of contract with PSG, he had an agreement with los Blancos. It wasn't perfect three years ago when the Spanish giants made PSG an offer of €160 million -- Mbappé had just a year left on his contract at the time -- but the Parisians rejected it.
