The Kylian Complex: How Much Do Transfer Sagas Hurt Football Clubs?
In 2022, Kylian Mbappé was the world’s best striker happily scoring hat tricks for a lethal attack at Paris Saint-Germain F.C. One year later, he’s stuck on a sinking ship with no hope for European glory. And he wants out.
To say the least, PSG is fed up with his drama.
For two months, media have linked the French superstar to Real Madrid, a club who just lost their number nine– Karim Benzema– to Saudi Arabia and are in search for a world class striker. Lucky for them, Mbappé has been dreaming of joining Los Merengues since his childhood…
But the deal is certainly far from done. Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti and Mbappé himself have had to continuously shoot down rumors of the transfer, and constant media attention surrounding the deal seems very annoying for all parties involved.
PSG seems to have the worst of it: reports indicate that Madrid is plotting to acquire Mbappé as a free agent when his contract ends next year, a plan in which PSG would get absolutely no transfer fee for possibly the world’s most expensive player.
Yet, as PSG urge Real Madrid to buy Mbappé now while they still have to pay, and desperately negotiate a back-up offer with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, Mbappé is relaxing on the beach in Miami, Florida. I don’t blame him– he’s still being paid a fortune that, as time passes, is only growing– two weeks ago Mbappé was paid a scheduled “loyalty” bonus of 40 million euros for staying with PSG…
It’s too ironic– a loyalty bonus for a player causing the front office’s biggest headache in years.
Nonetheless, Mbappé’s transfer saga isn’t the only problem PSG is facing. After already losing Messi earlier this summer, the Parisians could be losing Brazilian legend Neymar to Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal or MLS side LAFC this month.
To many international onlookers, PSG’s clearout may seem like a step in the right direction: losing drama-inducing, expensive superstars and replacing them with younger prospects should encourage a better squad and club environment. Indeed, this summer PSG quietly signed World Cup breakout star Gonçalo Ramos along with strikers Ousmane Dembélé and Marco Asensio, while they also discovered a young jewel in Uruguayan Manuel Ugarte.
However, recent results don’t offer any hope. PSG suffered a mediocre preseason tour in Japan and tied 0–0 with mid-table side Lorient in the first game of the Ligue 1 season. All the while, Mbappé trained with a reserve side and was forced to sit out every match. So much for having the best player in the world.
So PSG’s situation begs the question: how much do lingering transfer sagas affect teams?
The Parisians certainly seem to be facing the consequences. So are Barcelona and Madrid, who are linked with Neymar and Mbappé, respectively. Bayern’s dramatic DFL-Supercup loss on Saturday was overshadowed by excitement over Harry Kane’s arrival to the team, while MLS club executives have rarely caught a moment to breathe as reporters hound them with rumors about Luis Suárez, Sergio Ramos, Chucky Lozano and (yes) Neymar coming to the league.
So the short answer seems to be that clubs should and often do hate big-name rumors. Just ask Madrid’s Ancelotti, who blatantly rejected any rumors of Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga coming to the Bernabéu. “Kepa isn’t a Real Madrid player and I don’t talk about players who aren’t Real Madrid players”, the coach said Friday according to ESPN.
There may be an counterargument: more media attention can put pressure on a club and its players to solve problems fast and perform on the field and in the front office. After all, any attention is good attention… right?
Right?!?
Thanks for reading my story! You can read more about sports, especially the beautiful game, here: https://medium.com/@gianlombeyda
Let me know what you think about the ever-changing sports world in the comments!
