SOCCER
What did Kylian Mbappe say in his farewell video to PSG?
France’s star forward has announced he is leaving France’s premier club after months of speculation surrounding his soon-to-be-ending contract.
The decision is public. One of football’s greatest players, Kylian Mbappe, has announced he is to leave Paris Saint-Germain after seven years at the club. In an Instagram video, Mbappe explained the reasoning behind the decision.
Mbappe’s decision caps a difficult week for PSG, who were dumped out of the European Champion’s League by German side Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday. Despite consistent league dominance, winning Ligue 1 six times in the last seven years, the long-coveted Champion’s League remains elusive.
The announcement has been long expected with speculation over Mbappe’s contract dominating headlines since the turn of the year. Though nothing has been confirmed, persistent interest from Spanish giant Real Madrid seems the most likely destination and has already been reported.
Full transcript of everything Kylian Mbappe said in his video
“Hi everyone! It’s Kylian. I wanted to speak to you. I’ve always said to you that I would speak with you when the time was right and so I wanted to tell you that it’s my last year at Paris Saint-Germain. I will not extend and the adventure will come to an end in a few weeks. I will play my last game at the Parc des Prince on Sunday. There are lots of emotions, many years where I have had the chance to the great honour to be a member of the biggest club in France, one of the best in the world, which has allowed me to arrive here, to have my first experience at a club with a lot of pressure, to grow as a player and play alongside some of the best in history, some of the great champions, to meet a lot of people, to grow as a man as well with all of the glory and the mistakes that I have made.”
“First of all, I wanted to thank my teammates, all the teammates that I have played with; all of the coaches: Unai Emery, Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Christophe Galtier and Luis Enrique; the sporting directors: Leonardo and Luis Campos, for always accompanying me; everyone at the club, those that we don’t see, the people who work in the shadows be it the physios, the intendants, the performance team, everyone in the offices, at the Campus – everyone. All of these incredible people give everything for the club and they deserve this recognition. Despite everything that can happen on the outside, all of this media hype surrounds the club sometimes. There are really people that love the club and want to protect it and make it shine and I know that with all of these people, the club is in great hands.”
“It’s difficult, it’s difficult and I never thought it would be this difficult to announce this, to leave my country – France, to leave Ligue 1, a league that I have always known but I think that I needed this – a new challenge after this year. It’s difficult and there are people that I want to thank above all – the supporters. I know that I am not the most demonstrative player, I have not always lived up to the love that you all gave me over the course of these seven years, but I never wanted to cheat. I always wanted to be effective.”
“PSG is a club that leaves no one indifferent – you either love it or you hate it. I made the choice to love it and I did it for seven years, with highs and lows for sure but I do not regret, not at any moment, signing at this prestigious club. It’s a club that I will keep in my memory for my whole life. I will tell everybody, for the rest of my life, that I was lucky enough to play here and now I won’t be a player here any more but I will continue to watch every game of course because it’s a club that I’ll always be interested in and I will always follow closely follow the news of the club.”
“It was me, with my qualities and my defects but I tried to give the best version of myself during these seven years. But more than anything, I want to say thank you because without all of you, I would never have experienced half of the emotions that I have and just for that, I am eternally grateful. Thank you everyone. I hope we will finish this year with one final trophy. We’ll have some more good times in the time that is left and know that you will be forever in my heart. Ici c’est Paris.”