Inside Mbappé’s PSG switch: how Neymar tipped the balance in 2017
Kylian Mbappé is now in his third season at Real Madrid, wearing the iconic number 10. But his love affair with Los Blancos could have begun nine years earlier if PSG hadn’t intervened. The arrival of Neymar heavily influenced his decision to don the Paris Saint-Germain jersey instead of the white of Real Madrid. This was revealed by his former teammate Thiago Silva during the previous season.
Everything happened very quickly for Kylian Mbappé. The 2016/2017 season was his first full campaign with AS Monaco. At Le Rocher, the young kid from Bondy reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, eliminating Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Thomas Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund along the way. Meanwhile, AS Monaco won Ligue 1 for the 8th time in their history, ending a 17-year drought. Mbappé was one of the architects of the temporary halt to PSG’s dominance in Ligue 1 since 2013. That was the first turning point of his career.
“Why did I choose PSG? Because PSG is my hometown team”
At just 18 years old, only months before his 19th birthday that he could have celebrated as a Real Madrid player alongside his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, or Sergio Ramos, Kylian Mbappé decided to reject the advances of president Florentino Pérez, who was ready to put 180M€ on the table. An offer matched by PSG in the final stretch of the summer transfer window. In December 2018, Mbappé opened up to Marca about the outcome of the saga surrounding his future. A particularly satisfying ending. “Why did I choose PSG? Because PSG is my hometown team. It’s as if a Madrid kid from Real had the opportunity to play for his team and went elsewhere, to another country. No, no, I wanted to play for PSG and I’m very happy with how things are going so far. There were a lot of transfer rumors, it’s certain that we talked, but I think that’s over now for me and for Real Madrid. Now I play for PSG and I will defend these colors 100%.”
“At the end of the match, he came to me and said: ‘If Neymar comes, I want to come too'”
Kylian Mbappé didn’t simply choose to wear the red and blue of Paris Saint-Germain because of his ties to the Paris region. His former PSG captain spoke a few months ago to Ligue 1+ about the club’s current affairs. And Thiago Silva revealed a previously secret conversation with Kylian Mbappé after the Trophée des Champions in the summer of 2017. “I remember the Trophée des Champions against Mbappé’s Monaco very well. At the end of the match, he came to me and said: ‘If Neymar comes, I want to come too. You can talk to the president about it. I also want to be part of this team.’ Neymar signed and Mbappé arrived.”
“An incredible friendship formed from the start”
The scales tipped in favor of Paris Saint-Germain for Kylian Mbappé, largely due to the presence of Neymar, who arrived in early August from FC Barcelona for a 222M€ fee. With the Brazilian star, the two men formed a close bond that eventually faded over time. “An incredible friendship formed from the start. Then a few years later, what happened happened. I’m a bit disappointed by the turn of events. It should have gone differently.”
