Mbappe Real Madrid, Salah future, and more

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Real Madrid are working hard on the Kylian Mbappe deal – they are advancing with confidence, even if nothing has been signed yet. Obviously I’ve had a lot of questions about this deal as several outlets have made strong claims on the Mbappe situation, so I wanted to clarify with my understanding of where it stands with Mbappe and Real Madrid.

As one of the biggest names in world football, we hear lots of stories about Mbappe in almost every transfer window, with sources saying he’s going here or he’s going there, so it’s not the first time we’ve had reports like this.

I respect all the information that’s out there but I’m just here to say what I’m hearing and the crucial point that an important formal step will be Mbappe’s formal communication to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. It’s not just a formal step, it’s a crucial step because that’s what they decided in the summer after what had been a very tense situation at the club when he was not travelling with the squad, missing pre-season with the team.

The only way out of this was to make a pact, so Mbappe made a pact with PSG and said he was prepared to lose out on an €80m loyalty bonus. So if he joins Real Madrid, PSG will not pay the €80m loyalty bonus, but part of this gentleman’s agreement as well is that Mbappe has to inform Al-Khelaifi before anyone else of his decision. This is a key part of keeping a good relationship in the next steps of the story.

At the time of writing, this communication has still not arrived – there is no formal communication to PSG or to Al-Khelaifi, and also nothing has been signed. From my personal experience, from what has happened over the years when we’ve heard many times that Mbappe has signed for Real Madrid and then the situation changed, it is important to respect you and to give the clearest information I can. For me, the best way to do this is to communicate when it’s really a done deal, and that will be when Mbappe informs PSG and Al-Khelaifi, so I will keep you posted on that step.

Could it happen soon? Yes. The feeling from sources at PSG, Real Madrid and Mbappe, the decision could come soon. Not in June or July, the feeling is that will be soon….