PSG was always Kylian Mbappe’s stepping stone to Real Madrid

Imagination is an incredibly strong thing. For starters, it is free and secondly, you can do whatever you want. As fans of Real Madrid, many of us have imagined ourselves playing at the Santiago Bernabeu while the fans chant our names after an incredible outing.

For me, it is no different. Sometimes—actually, most of the time—my mind wanders to places, building up an imaginative perfect life. In that perfect life, I am a highly sought-after youngster who was first spotted after scoring a hattrick for Bangladesh as a 16-year-old.

Tottenham —my favourite team in England—then come calling and I join them. Even in my wildest of imaginations, for some reason, I tend to keep the small—and, in ironic hindsight—things real.

Here, I realise that Daniel Levy is a tough customer to deal with, so when I sign my contract with the Londoners, I deliberately put an escape clause that basically forces the Lilywhites to accept an offer from Real Madrid, should it ever come.

Of course, in this perfect world, I end up helping Spurs win all possible trophies and then, actively look for a move to Madrid. Levy, however, doesn’t budge, but my honesty with the fans—and cleverness, I must add—allows me to join Madrid when they match the terms of my escape clause.

If you have read this far, you might be wondering why I am blabbering absolute nonsense but if you think about it, it may not be nonsense after all.

PSG tried to act tough by turning down 200 million euros for Mbappe

You could replace me with Kylian Mbappe and Tottenham with PSG. In my fantastical case, however, I have an escape clause, which the Frenchman doesn’t—but perhaps he has something even better.

An expiring contract, which allows Madrid to sign him for no transfer fee.

Quite frankly, this is genius. Mbappe is a greater fan than I am because even in my imagination, I didn’t spare the Galacticos from paying an exuberant sum for me. Mbappe, however, is helping the Blancos sign him on a Bosman transfer.

In this regard, one could almost feel a little sorry for PSG. Almost.

The Parisians tried to act tough in the last summer transfer window and while they did get to the Frenchman for an extra season, they are now going to lose him for nothing. In the end, PSG get nothing for being the springboard—the steppingstone, the developmental.

PSG fans might be upset at the connotation of the French giants being a steppingstone for the World Cup winner, but it is simply nothing but the truth—and if facts hurt you, the fault doesn’t lie in the facts but only you.

The reigning runners-up of French Ligue 1 Uber Eats were never more than a springboard for Mbappe to launch himself to stardom, which would eventually land him to the Spanish capital.

Florentino Perez has been chasing the PSG star since 2017. The construction magnate was willing to part €180 million for someone who was, at that time, just a teenager. If that is not enough to tell you how much the Real Madrid president wants him, then here’s more: Florentino Perez has been in constant contact with Wilfried Mbappe, Kylian’s dad, for almost a decade now.

But in the end, Mbappe chose to join PSG. Some people say that he chose the financially better option but it might not be the complete truth. Before we delve into the other side, let’s first look a little at the financial side of things.

Mbappe wouldn’t have been a ‘Galactico’ if he signed with Real Madrid earlier

In simple terms, the Galacticos couldn’t pay him an absurd amount of money in wages after just one elite season.

To get to that level, a player must be a superstar: and Mbappe decided that it would be better to join the greatest club of all time as an already established superstar. Indeed, when Mbappe joins the Blancos in the summer, he will be among the highest-paid players in the world and, definitely, the highest-paid in Madrid.

That wouldn’t have happened if he had joined in 2017.

Another thing is the superstar status. Jose Angel Sanchez, Real Madrid’s chief executive, allegedly went as far as claiming that he wouldn’t sign Kylian Mbappe if Vinicius Junior decides to join the Galacticos.

But make no mistake, Mbappe loves Paris

If this is true, then it also makes sense as to why Mbappe decided to join PSG. Madrid couldn’t sign Mbappe without risking Vinicius to Barcelona. But now, the Frenchman will come to the Bernabeu and find an incredible teammate assisting him.

Now, the other reason, which resonates a lot with me, is his love for PSG. While Mbappe might be actively seeking a move to join the Merengues, he is not destroying his relationship with PSG in the process.

In this time and age, when players have so much power that they decide to go on a strike to force a move out of the club, Mbappe’s refusal to do so in the summer is a testament to his admiration and respect for PSG.

The comics released by the Frenchman serve as proof of his love and desire to play for PSG before joining the Blancos. Madrid might be his greatest dream but he also wanted to help his poor-old second-team to win the Champions League and make some history.

Mbappe smartly used PSG’s platform as a tool to reach stardom

It is always in my imaginative final season that I win the ultimate club competition with Spurs, beating Madrid along the way. I become a hero—a legend—for Spurs. I am revered like a God. But for me, it is just a dreamland I conjured by the power of imagination.

PSG is Mbappe’s Tottenham. And the Frenchman can still do it in his final season for the club as PSG play Madrid in the second round of the Champions League.

Whatever it may be, Mbappe is coming to Madrid in the summer. Whether or not he is able to give the greatest parting gift of the Champions League to PSG remains to be seen.

But one thing can’t be denied: the French giants were nothing more than a developmental team for the French superstar. They were just a tool for him to reach stardom, to get to the level of Real Madrid.

And the saddest part for them is that they are not even going to get the developmental fee. At least when Madrid send their youngsters on loan, the other team almost always gets some sort of benefit (buy-out clause, first-refusal…etc.) but PSG, in this case, get nothing.

But they have no one to blame, except for themselves.