Mbappé, Haaland... what Real Madrid fans want

The thunderclap released by Mbappé at the Camp Nou with his performance for PSG against Barcelona was followed by an echo: an intensification in the demands from the Real Madrid fans and followers for club president Florentino Pérez to sign him. Both individuals became trending topics on Twitter, united by the desire of the Madridistas for Pérez to recover his Midas touch and bring him to the Bernabéu, as he did when he was starting out, signing Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham at a stroke. Four star signings, all of them difficult. Since then it’s not been much like that. Cristiano Ronaldo was signed by Calderón, Kaká joined injured and on the way down, Bale’s signing made an impact more for the money paid than the reality of the player. And the transfer never really worked. Nothing has been quite the same for Pérez since he started.

Real Madrid fans want Mbappé or Haaland... or both

However, the belief that was brought into being with the signing of those four galacticos has never diminished despite the passage of time and last night, Wednesday, after Haaland rampaged through the Sevilla’s Sánchez Pizjuán stadium, some wanted the Norwegian, others demanded the French star and there were others still, getting completely carried away, saying they wouldn’t settle for anything less than both. They are different players. In my opinion Mbappé is the better: physically powerful, great ball skills, powerful runner, an ability to lose his man and great in front of goal. He’s seems a more well-rounded player than Haaland, who’s a brutal goalscorer. Maybe Mbappé appears better, in fact, because of the Norwegian’s efficiency, his ability to produce the final product, which makes him more of an out-and-out goal getter, the last man, than Mbappé, who is involved in the play more.

But I fear Real Madrid’s fans are building castles in the air. Without reaching the levels of Barcelona, Real Madrid are broke, so much so they cut their wage bill in January by letting Odegaard and Jovic go, and sold decent youth team players. I don’t think there will be many big arrivals this summer apart from the return of Bale, who’s already fed up of Mourinho. To keep Bale, Pérez decided to forego Mbappé, who didn’t want to come in as backup to the BBC. It was a terrible mistake, that’s obvious. The hope over Mbappé is that he doesn’t renew and is free in the summer of 2022. We’ll see. As for Haaland, he’s on the books of Raiola, whose relationship with Florentino is terrible.