If you read everything which has been said and written officially and unofficially in the last five months about Kylian Mbappe and his apparent transfer from PSG to Real Madrid, money is the key word. Money, boyhood dream to play for Real and pressure from the highest authorities in France to stay. Wealthy club owners (and that basically means the whole state of Qatar) who are mocking the sporting world with their ‘loose’ approach to UEFA’s financial rules have done it again, giving the player everything he wants just to stay in Paris during the World Cup in Qatar.❤️🤩💙#𝐊𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐂𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬 pic.twitter.com/ObJKV39V63— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) May 23, 2022 But, when the time for explaining came, we have heard some half-insulting responses from Nasser Al Khelaifi, like ‘it was not about money but about a sports project’. As for Mbappe, he also gave some interesting quotes, and for the first time, he involved his nationality as one of the reasons for staying, stating that he is a Frenchman who wants to help his county (?!) To be totally fair, he did mention that he got more than one call from current French president Emmanuel Macron, which indirectly confirmed that the pressure was coming directly from the top of the state.Mbappe stays in Paris – how did it happen?After the sensational U-turn, Kylian Mbappe and PSG president held a press conference in which they tried to explain the whole situation, but some answers were, as expected, far from any real explanation. One of the first questions was off course, why did he change his mind.“Leaving my country like that… There is this sentimental side… And also the project has changed. The club has changed a lot of things sportingly and I think my story is not over. I made the decision to announce it before announcing it to PSG to call the president Florentino Perez. I want to thank Real supporters, they have always accepted me as one of their own. I understand their disappointment, but I hope they will understand that I am staying in my country and as a Frenchman I want to help my country and make grow the championship” replied Mbappe.Don’t cry for me, ArgentineOne of the apparent reasons for accepting the new contract even thou he agreed to join Real was his new role in the club’s politics, which could give him more power in sporting matters, but the Frenchman shrugged offer those claims.”I am going to limit myself to football, to the game, I have no other functions” said PSG’s forward.Real Madrid soundly defeated – what now?As for the most important thing, like money, president Khelaifi declined to talk about it (obviously), stating that the sporting idea was always more important.”Kylian has stayed at PSG for the next three seasons, it’s very important for us, Ligue 1 and France. This choice is a very strong sign, we are keeping the best player in the world. He stays here because Paris puts him in condition to achieve his sporting goals: win, win and win. We are not going to make the figures public, but the most important thing for Mbappé is the sports project” said Kalaifi, expecting that someone will actually believe this to be true.🚨 Kylian Mbappé did NOT give in to the immense pressure put on him to stay at PSG. The Emir of Qatar, had asked the president of France Emmanuel Macron, and the former president, Sarkozy, to help convince Mbappé not to leave Paris. (Source: @diarioas) pic.twitter.com/LCQXmoysyQ— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) May 17, 2022 After the deal to keep Mbappe was announced, one of the first reactions was La Liga’s president Javier Teabas’ furious response, which were directed at the financial rules and claims that the deal is ‘insult to football’.“I think the president of Ligue1 can answer that. Maybe he is afraid that Ligue 1 is better than LaLiga. That’s good for us. LaLiga is not the same as it was three or four years ago. I have respect for all the clubs, but we need respect too. I’m not going to go into what you’ve asked because it’s none of my business. We’re focused on our club, on our top player in the world. What other people say is not an issue. We don’t listen to it, we focus on our project” said Khelaifi.𝗞𝘆𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻, 𝗞𝘆𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻, 𝗞𝘆𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻! 🔝#𝐊𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐂𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬 🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/UZ42elM0I1— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) May 23, 2022 One of the clear reasons that this was mostly about money was the player’s image rights, which played an important part, but Khelaifi tried to downplay that part, stating ‘sports project’ as the main reason (again).“We haven’t talked about money until the end. The most important thing was the sports project. We only talked about the contract and image rights at the end, for a few minutes” said PSG president.French president Emmanuel Macron called Kylian Mbappe several times to convince him to stay at PSG and grow his legacy as an icon in Paris 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/L4kbQTg5v0— GOAL (@goal) May 22, 2022 After the presser, Mbappe did confirm he got more than one call from Emmanuel Macron.“Yes, we talked, it was good advice. We often talked. When you are a national figure, you have rights and duties. He told me that he was very happy and that it was very good news for the country. And he didn’t call me just once. I have a lot of respect for him, but I don’t make my decision because he told to stay. But it was one parameter among others” admitted Mbappe to of BFMTV.
