Real Madrid had Mbappé offer accepted before PSG move
Football Leaks has published details of the France star's 2017 move, his salary demands, Jorge Mendes' involvement and Madrid's failed deal.
The latest batch of Football Leaks documents, obtained by Der Spiegel and scrutinised by Mediapart and its partners in the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) network include the details of Kylian Mbappé’s transfer from Monaco to PSG in the summer of 2017, and Real Madrid’s failed attempt to lure the France star to the Bernabéu.
Mediapart published information regarding Mbappé’s move to the Parc des Princes on Wednesday and claimed that Monaco accepted an offer of 180 million euros from Real Madrid but the player’s father was concerned about the level of competition at the Bernabéu, given that the Liga club already had Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale in their forward line. According to Football Leaks, negotiations with Mbappé were fairly straightforward but a list of clauses made by his family were a sticking point. And then Jorge Mendes appeared on the scene.
Mbappé’s time at Monaco was destined to come to an end when he asked to put on a wage par with Radamel Falcao; eight million euros a year after tax, which was 16 times more than the salary he negotiated with the club when signing a deal in March 2016. That alerted Europe’s big spenders and the initial offer of 180 million euros plus 30 million in add-ons from the Bernabéu was accepted by Monaco on June 20, 2017. That figure would have been increased by a payment of 34 million euros in tax, which Monaco refused to stump up but Madrid said they would cover.
Mbappé preferred PSG move over Real Madrid transfer
Despite Monaco vice-chairman Dimitri Vasyliev’s reluctance to sell to a domestic rival, Mbappé made it clear he preferred a move to Paris and Monaco agreed, on the proviso that PSG matched Real’s offer.
Having already signed Neymar for a world record fee of 222 million euros, PSG arranged a one-year loan deal with Monaco, with a compulsory purchase option of 145 million euros plus 35 million in add-ons. At the time it was widely considered to be a device to avoid breaking Financial Fair Play regulations but Football Leaks claims that in fact it was to avoid paying tax of 30 million euros on the deal while PSG sought an agreement with Monaco for a fee-free loan, which they succeeded in achieving 10 hours before the deadline on August 31.
Mbappé’s salary demands of a signing-on fee of five million euros plus a salary of 50 million euros over five years on a rising scale from seven million in 2017-18 to 12 million in the final year of his contract were met by PSG.
Mendes: the architect of Real Madrid rumours?
The documents also reveal the involvement of Mendes, who appeared at the 11th hour and managed to add his name to the transfer agreement, pocketing a minimum of 7.25 million euros for what Football Leaks suspects was providing the service of driving speculation throughout the summer that Mbappé would move to Real Madrid, thus sparking a bidding war for the player.
EIC contacted Mendes for comment but the agent declined. Likewise, neither Mbappé, Monaco president Dmitry Rybolovlev or PSG were willing to answer inquiries from EIC.
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