“Good afternoon everyone. I’m going to try to speak Spanish.” Unsurprisingly for a transfer that has been more than a decade in the making, Kylian Mbappé came prepared. It was at Monaco – not long after he had been charmed by Zinedine Zidane on a visit to Real Madrid’s training ground just before his 14th birthday – that the talented teenager had started taking Spanish lessons in anticipation of this moment. And now, finally, it had arrived.
“It’s such an incredible feeling to be here, just incredible,” said Mbappé after he was eventually introduced at a packed Santiago Bernabéu stadium on Tuesday by Florentino Pérez. “I spent endless nights dreaming about one day playing for Real Madrid, and today I’m one happy guy.”
More than 80,000 supporters were at the historic venue that had been transformed at one end into a giant stage, with a catwalk also running across the centre of the pitch to greet the new hero. Tickets for the event were sold out two days in advance in anticipation of his arrival, while Mbappé’s new No 9 shirt was reported to have sold twice as many as his idol Cristiano Ronaldo did in the first few days after he joined Madrid back in 2009.
Pictures of the Portugal forward in the famous all-white strip used to adorn Mbappé’s bedroom walls as a teenager growing up in Bondy – a suburb of Paris. Pérez, the longstanding president who was joined on stage at the Bernabéu by Zidane, recounted the story about Mbappé’s now-famous visit to Madrid back in 2012 when Zidane gave the young forward a ride in his car. In an article for the Players Tribune in 2020, Mbappé remembered being so starstruck that he asked the France and Real Madrid legend whether he needed to take off his shoes.
“It was incredible meeting him then as he was a hero for all French kids,” he said on Tuesday. “With hard work and keeping dreams alive we can all achieve great things.”
Twelve years and lots of goals later, Mbappé could not hide his delight when he emerged from the tunnel at 12.58pm local time, almost an hour after the ceremony had been due to start. Thousands of fans were already inside when pictures of him arriving for his medical at Ciudad Real Madrid Florentino Pérez – the club’s impressive training ground in Valdebebas – in white shorts and a beige polo shirt filtered through. That was followed by the obligatory thumbs up shot as it was confirmed that the 25-year-old had been given the all-clear despite sustaining a broken nose playing for France against Austria at Euro 2024.
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His road to Madrid has by no means been simple and Mbappé paid tribute to the persistence of Pérez in bringing him to the 15-time European champions after he turned them down in 2022 and signed a new contract with Paris Saint-Germain instead. “I always believed that I’d play here despite plenty of offers from other clubs. There have been a lot of things going on, but we’ve done it,” he said. “I’d also like to thank all those people who have put in a great effort for me to be able to be here today, who have done so much for me to enjoy this moment. My family are so happy here, I can see my mum crying.”
Facing the media later having signed off to the supporters with a “1, 2, 3 Hala Madrid” and plenty of photos, Mbappé admitted that despite his extra Spanish lessons at Monaco, the opportunity to work under Luis Enrique and Mauricio Pochettino at PSG had also helped him prepare for this day. “At school, I was far from the best in class and I need to pick up more colloquial terms,” he said.
Yet even a player who has already won 84 caps for France and set the record for most goals scored in World Cup finals could not avoid feeling nervous. “Of course there is pressure playing for the biggest club in the world but there is also pleasure at playing in the most important club in the world,” he said. “I really struggled to sleep last night and woke up with pressure on myself to enjoy every moment of the day. This day will live with me for ever.”