Real Madrid: How confident should fans be about a Kylian Mbappe signing?

Real Madrid will do whatever they can to sign Kylian Mbappe next summer, but is signing him really almost a given for Los Blancos?

At any given moment, a club has a complicated list of targets and thinks through scenarios and needs, including needs that may emerge. Real Madrid have players of various ages and skill-sets they are thinking of signing at different points in time in order to solve their most pressing question as a club. How do they score more goals and play better attacking football?

Real Madrid have identified Kylian Mbappe as their top transfer target in the next two transfer windows. Although his contract runs out in 2021-2022, Real don’t expect to sign the world’s most valuable player for free, least of all with clubs like Liverpool and Juventus lurking. Mbappe isn’t the only big name on their wishlist, as Erling Haaland (2022), Jadon Sancho, and Sadio Mane have been among the attacking stars linked to Los Blancos.

But Mbappe is the No. 1 target. He is not far off from being the best player in the world, and in terms of form to start the 2020-2021 season, he can make the case that he will be the best player in the world by the time he’s available to sign.

Real Madrid have been working on “Operation Mbappe” for more than a year. They have stayed quiet, careful not to run afoul of PSG’s decision-makers. Because at the end of the day, Florentino Perez isn’t just negotiating with sporting director Leonardo and president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, but also the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani himself.

Mbappe will cost somewhere around 180 million euros, according to Marco Ruiz of AS, and negotiations with both the team and PSG are delicate. To this point, Mbappe has kept an eye firmly on the Santiago Bernabeu, which would be renovated just in time for his much-needed arrival as their superstar of the present and future. And with his eye on Madrid, Mbappe has rejected, per that same report from AS, three different contract offers from PSG.

In addition to the nearly 200 million euros paid directly to the Ligue 1 giants, Real Madrid would also have to spend on Mbappe’s wages to make him one of the world’s highest-paid player. He would need to be paid a suitable amount to reflect his status as Real’s superstar.

If it sounds like a complicated and expensive operation, then that’s because it absolutely is. But that’s what it takes to sign a 21-year-old who won a World Cup, made a Champions League Final, and is on pace for his third straight season with at least 30 goals for his club. Real understand the complicated nature of this deal financially, even sacrificing their 2020 summer transfer window to save every cent for Mbappe in 2021.

Kylian Mbappe seems like a man ready for the challenge of leading Real Madrid

But there is something that should give Real Madrid fans extreme confidence in the club’s ability to sign Mbappe, as difficult and pricy as this endeavor is. Mbappe seems to think of Madrid and nobody else, specifically when it comes to competition from other clubs.

Liverpool and Juventus are sometimes mentioned, but only in far-fetched rumors that include Cristiano Ronaldo being used to acquire Mbappe. I am not saying that it is impossible for either club to acquire Mbappe, because almost nothing is impossible in the world of football transfers. But I am saying that in comparison to Real Madrid, these are highly unrealistic landing spots with far fewer, tangible and credible transfer links.

So it is Real Madrid or PSG. And if Mbappe still hasn’t re-signed with PSG after more than a year of negotiations, then why would he suddenly change course nad re-sign? He could very well do so, but the lack of a signature to this point is a huge boost to Real Madrid.

Mbappe seems to be in a similar situation Ronaldo was at Manchester United. That is to say, he is a supremely talented young player ready to take on the biggest challenge there is in European football – leading a rebuilding Real Madrid side to perennial Champions League glory as their ultra-efficient centerpiece player en route to becoming the world’s No. 1 global superstar.

If that’s the case, then Madridistas should be quietly confident in the club’s ability to pull off an outstanding, if not necessary, signing in 2021 that will transform their attack and team for years to come.