How Mbappé Leaving For Madrid Made PSG a Better Team | OneFootball

It has been a troubling few weeks for Kylian Mbappé. His current team—Real Madrid—failed to reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals for the first time in five years, whilst his former side—Paris Saint-Germain—have made it to the semis. Despite putting up impressive individual statistics, it’s little wonder that pundits like Cristobal Soria and Ramon Vega have begun to question why Los Blancos even signed him in the first place. But just how did it come to this? Let’s take a trip down memory lane:

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In 2017, Paris Saint-Germain embarked on an unprecedented summer transfer window that saw Dani Alves, Yuri Berchiche, Neymar Jr., and Mbappé join. Eight years later, Neymar (€222 million) and Mbappé (€180 million) remain the two most expensive signings in football history, but neither managed to deliver a first-ever Champions League title to the Parc des Princes. In its first two years with its new blockbuster duo in attack, PSG were eliminated from the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage to Real Madrid and Manchester United. They flipped the script in 2019-20 by brushing past Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, and RB Leipzig and reaching the final in Lisbon, only to concede a goal to PSG academy product Kingsley Coman and lose 1-0 to Bayern Munich. Les Parisiens avenged their defeat the following year by edging Bayern in the quarterfinals, only to fall to Manchester City in the following round.

Despite another blockbuster transfer window that saw various big names like Nuno Mendes, Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, and Achraf Hakimi arrive, PSG’s European form took a turn for the worse in 2021-22, relinquishing a two-goal advantage courtesy of Karim Benzema’s hat-trick and losing to Real Madrid in the Round of 16, before falling to a humbling 3-0 defeat to Bayern in the Round of 16. This crushing disappointment led to a major overhaul in the summer of 2023, with Luis Enrique replacing Christophe Galtier as manager and veteran stars such as Messi, Ramos, and Neymar departing the club. Their intercontinental exploits have drastically improved under the Spanish manager, with Les Parisiens advancing past Spanish sides Real Sociedad and Barcelona before coming up short against Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals—BVB would proceed to lose 2-0 to Real Madrid in the final.

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Exactly two days after claiming their 15th European Cup at Wembley, Real Madrid announced the signing of Mbappé on a free transfer. At the time, it seemed like a major coup for Los Blancos, who had attempted to sign Mbappé on various occasions across the past decade, only to be rebuffed on every single occasion. Real Madrid had signed a player who, at 25, was entering the peak of his powers, and who had established himself as one of the finest players in world football and PSG’s all-time leading scorer with 256 goals and 107 assists in 308 appearances. What’s more, they were doing so without giving a penny to their Champions League rivals, with Mbappé arriving after the expiry of his PSG deal and penning a lucrative contract that will see him pocket a gross annual salary of $36 million through 2029.

Having already spurred Monaco to Ligue 1 glory, guided France to their first World Cup in two decades, and led PSG to 15 domestic trophies (including six league titles), it was seemingly only a matter of time before Mbappé got his hands on some silverware with Los Blancos. He did just that, grabbing a goal on his debut vs. Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup, before opening the scoring in a 3-0 win vs. Pachuca in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup Final. Since then, however, he has been unable to add to his trophy cabinet. Despite breaking the deadlock within five minutes, his Real Madrid side fell to a 5-2 defeat to Barcelona in the Supercopa de España Final. And with five matches remaining, Barcelona currently find themselves four points clear of Real Madrid in the title race.

It means that, unless they can beat Barcelona in today’s Copa del Rey Final or turn around a seemingly insurmountable deficit, Real Madrid will end the season without any major trophies, a far cry from last season’s Champions League and league double. Whilst there have undoubtedly been other factors, such as the retirement of Toni Kroos or the season-ending injury to Dani Carvajal, it cannot be denied that Mbappé’s arrival has had both positive and negative consequences. For all the goals that he has scored (32 goals and 4 assists in 49 appearances), he’s also taken a toll on Real’s other attacking players and forced them into a more unnatural role.

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