In this fall of 2022, HBO and Prime Video thought they were hitting hard in the world of series with House of the Dragons and The Rings of Power. It was without counting on the return of the soap opera of the year, which kept Europe in suspense throughout last season: the real false start of Kylian Mbappé from Paris Saint-Germain. Tuesday October 11, a few hours before a decisive shock against Benfica for the first place of the group in the Champions League, the French striker launched the new season of this series which fascinates the crowds, mixing love, money, politics and treason.
How ? By throwing a bomb: Kylian Mbappé wants to leave Paris Saint-Germain from the next winter transfer window. The impact was immediate, with tremors felt throughout the world of football – and not only, the President of the Republic having himself intervened in this soap opera –. The explosion caused a tsunami on the Seine, while PSG’s start to the season was all about quiet cruising, undefeated in the league and in C1, with the returns to the fore of Lionel Messi and Neymar.
The scriptwriters had a nimble hand to revive the suspense, as the final credits of episode 2 of the season hardly foreshadowed a sequel. On May 21, during a renewal of vows with great fanfare at the Parc des Princes, PSG formalized the extension of the idyll between the city of light and its most beautiful star. With two years of contract, plus an optional year, Kylian Mbappé was – on paper – in the long term in the capital. If he came back, Paris would forget everything.
The incessant rumors around his striker, free in January 2022 to commit where he wanted, and his flirtation with Real Madrid, a childhood fantasy, (a love triptych constituting episode 1). Paris rolled out the red carpet for him, yielding to several of his demands, such as the induction of a new communications director close to him. Some even lent Mbappé a weight in the recruitment of the club, which has been denied several times by the various parties.
But with the French striker, love lasts four months. Tuesday, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of PSG, was informed of the pressing desires of the French star. Contacted by the team, he assured that a divorce was not possible, just like the entourage of the club, requested by Radio France. Adviser to the president who has become a marriage counselor, Luis Campos also refused to hear the Frenchman’s desire for divorce, at the microphone of RMC Sport. Difficult to envisage this rupture for the PSG, after having boasted so much of being able to appear on the arm of a man courted by the whole of Europe.
It must be said that Kylian Mbappé’s moods were, until then, well hidden by his performance on the field, with 11 goals since the start of the season. Against Benfica at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday, for the fourth day of C1, he also added a twelfth while being the only scorer for PSG, but the evening did not have the desired outcome. Like a week earlier, Paris had to settle for a draw (1-1), insufficient, but not handicapping for the round of 16.
31 – Kylian Mbappé scored his 31st goal for Paris in the Champions League, overtaking Edinson Cavani (30) and becoming the club’s only top scorer in the competition’s history. Pivot. #PSGSLB pic.twitter.com/UpCNCdGDkY
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) October 11, 2022
More than a soap opera, the love story between PSG and Mbappé is changing telenovela. Because this new season presents a love trio, in which the Brazilian rival Neymar plays a leading role. The question of the relationship of the two men has caused a lot of ink to flow in recent weeks, against a backdrop of supposed jealousies. The Bondynois seemed to seek peace with theauriverde, at the dawn of the first match of C1 against Juventus. He seemed serene, certain that his club had made him the only chosen one of his heart. “Our relationship [avec Neymar] has been based on respect for six years but with hot and sometimes cold, times when we are very close, others when we talk less. There is always respect even if it is not always linear. But it is always in the interest of PSG.”
But what would a good series be without a tangle of plots. Because the PSG did not skimp on the promises to keep its dear and tender. Problem: the club did not hold them all. What weaken the couple. Arrived this summer at the club, coach Christophe Galtier drew a team orchestrated by Lionel Messi in number ten, and Neymar – still him – in free spirit. In this system, Kylian Mbappé must evolve into a real number nine, at the forefront. A betrayal for the French, considering himself used against nature, not listened to. Far from his club, he had poured out a first time after France-Austria, on September 23: “I have a lot more freedom here, the coach knows there is a number 9 like Olivier [Giroud]. Me, I can walk around, go into space, to ask for balloons. In Paris, it’s different, there isn’t that. In Paris, I am asked to do the pivot”.
A fault admitted by Luis Campos, unofficial sports director of the club, on September 16 on RMC: “When Kylian extended, he was promised the construction of a great team and in this construction, there was a reference number 9, which we ultimately did not take”. In September, on the eve of the first Champions League match against Juventus, Mbappé refused to express his feelings: “It’s not the place or the time and I’m not the person who can best answer that question. We’re here to talk about a Champions League game”. An outing that barely veiled the disappointment of the Frenchman.
/2022/10/11/phpxzIKD4.jpg)
Saturday, after a disappointing draw for the capital club against Reims (0-0), where he seemed tense, Kylian Mbappé himself put the question of his tactical use back on the front of the stage, in a story on Instagram: “Draw, meeting on Tuesday, #icicestparis #pivotgang”. Was it irony? Frustration? Maybe a bit of both? No matter, it was already enough more than a tiny spark to rekindle the fire.
Mbappé’s spleen, imprisoned in a relationship that no longer fulfills him, is therefore once again displayed in the public square. But it remains to determine the true intentions of the tricolor attacker. Is this a real will to break, or a stroke of pressure to strengthen his leadership at PSG? To convey the message of his desire to break up, he left nothing to chance.
If several French media, including the sports department of Radio France, confirmed the information during the day, it is brand, a Spanish newspaper, pro-Real Madrid, which released the scoop. How could it be otherwise, when we speak of a newspaper enamored of Real Madrid, often accused of being its unofficial communication service? Kylian Mbappé may no longer have the merengue posters of his Bondy room, but he has, on several occasions, mentioned his desire to one day put himself at the service of this great of Spain.
As nothing is simple with the Frenchman, he nevertheless dismissed Florentino Perez twice, the president of a club which boasts of 14 Champions League, including the last. But pride, precisely, was piqued last summer when Mbappé preferred PSG and his quest for a first cup with big ears. If Real were to forgive, the soap opera could, this time, make its followers travel beyond the snowy passes of the Pyrenees. Appointment is made, the next episode will follow this winter, date of the opening of the transfer window, by the fireside.