The Mbappé nightmare | Soccer | Sports

Kylian Mbappé hasn’t arrived in Madrid yet – if he finally arrives, which ultimately seems to be the case – and some of us are already thinking about everything that could happen when he leaves. Or even worse: in everything that is about to precipitate in the ten minutes following the putting on of the prodigious Frenchman in the Real Madrid jersey and the recurring question in Carlo Ancelotti’s press conferences, or in the sessions of government control, is this when Erling Haaland arrives? Or Stephen Curry. Maybe even Taylor Swift, because sometimes it’s unclear where the white liner’s legitimate goals end and Variety covers begin.

The imminent signing of the Frenchman is experienced in Barcelona with a mixture of resignation, anger and even a touch of hope. “The best thing that can happen to Barça is that Mbappé signs for Madrid, time will prove me right,” an acquaintance told me via social networks. Regarding the second, I have few doubts: time always ends up proving us right in one way or another, because even Mbappé will age sooner or later, and then Madrid might no longer be of much use when he will have hip surgery or move around with a cane. the city, visiting construction sites. I, who am both incredulous and Galician, that is to say redundant, look at this statement with the greatest caution because saying that recruiting the best footballer in the world for the eternal rival is good for one’s own club seems It’s as risky for me as arguing that a war can be lost because of too much arsenal.

The truth is that imagining the merengue striker for the next season is imposing, at least on paper. There will always be a hopeful resistance that ego trumps talent, but history is full of confirmations to the contrary. So, to say the least, I can’t remember any team that crashed against their own expectations due to quality, accumulating so many good players that fans took to the streets to demand that one of the bad cheek. Or yes. During the reign of the Galacticos, a debate opened between the press and the supporters who promulgated the importance of Claude Makelele on Zidane himself, who had difficulty adapting in the first months, but not so much to other great footballers than to the natural tendency of madridismo to get angry with numbers.

Rivers of ink will also flow over what Mbappé will win or not. One of the most recognizable paraphilias of big clubs – Real Isabel and Fútbol Club Fernando are involved in this – is a certain obsession with pretending that their players are not motivated by money, which they all but accept to play for glory and consummation. that the two greats of Spanish football always guarantee you. Fortunately, the city of Madrid offers countless job opportunities so that the Frenchman can earn a decent salary without having to offend the Real Madrid fan – much less the culé – who would rather see his team in the second division than pay a footballer. …the salary you deserve.

“We must always set the bar high, otherwise we will not progress,” the future La Liga star and, apparently, the first signing in modern White history who will not be paid by selling football, said a few years ago. jerseys, but rather cuts. and cups, other objects with self-help phrases: so the nightmare was only just beginning.

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes in Facebook And Xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.

_