A video posted on social networks with the sole caption “THANK YOU”. Kylian Mbappé made his departure from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) official on Friday May 10 at 8 p.m. at the end of the season, after seven years spent in the red and blue colors. The news had already leaked in February, but the attacker had never spoken publicly on the subject.
We had to wait for the outcome of the Champions League semi-final against Borussia Dortmund and the elimination of the capital club on Tuesday May 7 for him to finally speak in a perfectly orchestrated performance.
“This is my last year at PSG, I’m not going to extend [my contract] and I’m going to finish my adventure [in Paris] in a few weeks,” he declares, facing the camera, in a living room, a red t-shirt on the shoulders, without any visible logo.
And to continue, in a sober tone, imbued with a certain gravity: “It’s a lot of emotion and a lot of years where I had the chance to be part of the biggest club in France, one of the best in the world, which allowed me to arrive here, to have my first experience in a club with a lot of pressure, to grow as a player, (…) to grow as a man too, with all the glory and the mistakes I may have made. »
The Bondynois, at the end of his contract with PSG on June 30, is free to negotiate his future with any team since January 1. In his video, he does not talk about his next destination, but confirms that it would not be in France. “I think I needed that, a new challenge after seven years,” he explains.
Everything suggests that the captain of the Blues will join the ranks of Real Madrid, the club of his childhood dreams, this summer. In this major controlled communication operation, all that is now missing is a triumphant press release from Casa Blanca, confirming its recruitment.
His last match at the Parc on Sunday
“It’s difficult, difficult. I didn’t think it was going to be so hard to announce that, to leave my country, France, Ligue 1, a championship that I have always known”, continues Kylian Mbappé, who took his first professional steps under the colors of AS Monaco, end of 2015.
Even if Ligue 1 no longer had any illusions, the formalization of its departure abroad marks a turning point for the championship, especially since the negotiations on its television rights for the period 2024-2029 have still not been concluded. not successful.
The striker will have written his name in the annals of French football with seven French championship titles (one with ASM in 2017; five with PSG in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024), three Cups of France (2018, 2020, 2021), two League Cups (2018, 2020), three Champions Trophies (2019, 2020, 2023). He could also add another Coupe de France to his list of achievements, on May 25, after the final against Olympique Lyonnais. His name will also remain engraved in the history of the Parisian team, of which he is the top scorer.
“It was me, with my qualities and my faults, but I tried to give the best version of myself during these seven years [at PSG],” he says with a certain modesty. Sunday, at 9 p.m., against Toulouse, Kylian Mbappé will play his last match at the Parc des Princes with the jersey of the capital club. And to conclude his video with “Here it’s Paris! », thumbs up.
