Real Madrid have confirmed the signing of World Cup-winner Kylian Mbappe on a five-year deal.
The France striker will officially join the 15-time European champions on July 1, the day after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires.
Mbappe announced earlier this year he would leave PSG this summer. He has reported to have agreed a deal with Real until 2029, earning €15 million a season, plus a €150m signing-on bonus to be paid over five years, and he will keep a percentage of his image rights.
A statement from the Spanish club read: “Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappe have reached an agreement for him to be a Real Madrid player for the next five seasons.”
The confirmation makes official one of the worst-kept secrets in football with Mbappe having been strongly linked with a switch to the Bernabeu Stadium for several months.
Mbappe is currently with the France squad preparing for Euro 2024 and will formally link up with Real after his involvement in the tournament ends.
He will join a club on a high after they captured their record-extending 15th European title with victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final on Saturday. This came after they secured the La Liga crown last month.
Mbappe wrote on X: “A dream made reality. Very happy and proud to form part of the club of my dreams, Real Madrid.
“It is impossible to explain how happy and emotional I feel in this moment.”
The free transfer comes six years after Mbappe joined PSG from Monaco on a permanent deal for a reported €180m fee. He had already spent a season on loan at the Parc des Princes.
He won six Ligue 1 titles with PSG and scored 256 goals in 308 appearances for the club but Champions League glory eluded him. PSG reached the final in 2020 but finished runners-up to Bayern Munich and they lost at the last-four stage this year to Dortmund.
Mbappe’s resume also features winning the World Cup at 19, a World Cup final hat-trick at 23, seven La Ligue titles (he also won one at Monaco) and four French Cups.
When they won the World Cup in 2018, he was the second teenager after Pele to score in a World Cup final. Four years later, he was one of only two players in history to score a hat-trick in a final when France fell to Lionel Messi's Argentina.
The 25-year-old World Cup winner with France joins a Madrid team that is already loaded with talent and still celebrating its latest European triumph – and sixth in 10 seasons.
Mbappe joins a team that already features young stars in Vinicius Junior (aged 23), Rodrygo (23) and Jude Bellingham (20). They have also signed Brazilian teenager Endrick.
Madrid president Florentino Perez made signing Mbappe a strategic club priority since the Spanish powerhouse failed to lock him up when the player visited the club’s facilities at age 14.
He, instead, opted to join Monaco’s youth academy, and became a teenage sensation when he helped lead the Principality club to the Champions League semi-finals in 2017.
The Qatar-backed PSG turned down Madrid's 2021 bid, but with Mbappe’s contract expiring the next year, Madrid took it for granted that the attacker, who had never hid his desire to one day play for the Spanish club, would come south of the Pyrenees in 2022.
But French President Emmanuel Macron encouraged him to stay, and Mbappe stunned Perez and most of the football world by signing a contract extension to “continue his adventure” in Paris but said his move to Spain was “never over”.
And over it certainly was not. In February, coach Carlo Ancelotti was asked how he would accommodate Mbappe.
“Good players need to know how to play together. The important thing is to maintain a balance,” said the Italian. “For me, the most important things in a team are: quality and balance. If you can combine these two things, you'll be successful.”
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1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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Find the right policy for you
Don’t wait until the week you fly to sign up for insurance – get it when you book your trip. Insurance covers you for cancellation and anything else that can go wrong before you leave.
Some insurers, such as World Nomads, allow you to book once you are travelling – but, as Mr Mohammed found out, pre-existing medical conditions are not covered.
Check your credit card before booking insurance to see if you have any travel insurance as a benefit – most UAE banks, such as Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, have cards that throw in insurance as part of their package. But read the fine print – they may only cover emergencies while you’re travelling, not cancellation before a trip.
Pre-existing medical conditions such as a heart condition, diabetes, epilepsy and even asthma may not be included as standard. Again, check the terms, exclusions and limitations of any insurance carefully.
If you want trip cancellation or curtailment, baggage loss or delay covered, you may need a higher-grade plan, says Ambareen Musa of Souqalmal.com. Decide how much coverage you need for emergency medical expenses or personal liability. Premium insurance packages give up to $1 million (Dh3.7m) in each category, Ms Musa adds.
Don’t wait for days to call your insurer if you need to make a claim. You may be required to notify them within 72 hours. Gather together all receipts, emails and reports to prove that you paid for something, that you didn’t use it and that you did not get reimbursed.
Finally, consider optional extras you may need, says Sarah Pickford of Travel Counsellors, such as a winter sports holiday. Also ensure all individuals can travel independently on that cover, she adds. And remember: “Cheap isn’t necessarily best.”
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