By Weston Blasi
Mbappé joins a Real Madrid team that features Champions League-winning players like Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham
French soccer star Kylian Mbappé is finally joining Spanish super-club Real Madrid after years of transfer rumors, the club announced Monday.
Mbappé, 25, will receive $16.2 million (EUR15 million) a year after taxes from Real Madrid over a five-year period, plus an additional estimated $163 million (EUR150 million) guaranteed signing bonus that is spread over the course of the contract, according to ESPN’s Julien Laurens and Alex Kirkland.
That would put Mbappé’s estimated average annual earnings at just under $50 million. Though that is a lot of money, it is still far below the one-year, $776 million contract offer that Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal reportedly offered Mbappé for his services last summer.
The move to Real Madrid and the new contract he has reportedly agreed to means that Mbappé is missing out on more than $700 million when comparing the annual value of both deals. So why didn’t Mbappé take the more lucrative contract?
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Mbappé – who is leaving Paris Saint-Germain after a seven-year stint with the French club – has already made roughly $288 million in his career, according to Capology.com estimates. The reported $776 million offer from Al Hilal last summer would have been the biggest one-year contract for a professional athlete in history.
Many high-profile soccer players have taken massive paydays to join Saudi Arabia’s top league, the Saudi Pro League, in recent years. Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is earning an estimated $213 million this year from Al Nassr, while Frenchman Karim Benzema of Real Madrid fame is reportedly collecting a total of $214 million through his two-year contract with ??Al-Ittihad.
Other top European footballers who are closer to the end of their careers, such as Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne, have also reportedly had interest from some Saudi clubs in recent years.
“Going to Saudi Arabia would basically be retirement from the top level of club soccer,” Matheson said. “And, of course, after another five or 10 years at Real, he can always take the big payment later like [Lionel] Messi in Miami or Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia.”
For its outsize ventures into professional golf, soccer and Formula 1 racing, some critics have called out Saudi Arabia for “sportswashing,” a criticism leveled at entities alleged to be using an athletic event or association to polish a tarnished reputation.
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Mbappé acknowledged the move in a post on Instagram (META) on Monday.
“A dream come true,” Mbappé wrote. “So happy and proud to join the club of my dream … Nobody can understand how excited I am right now. Can’t wait to see you, Madridistas, and thanks for your unbelievable support. !Hala Madrid!”
Mbappé joins a Real Madrid team that already features a Champions League-winning squad of young stars including Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham.
Mbappé, a World Cup winner with France, leaves Paris Saint-Germain as its all-time leading scorer with 256 goals, including a club record 175 in France’s Ligue 1.
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-Weston Blasi
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06-04-24 1051ET
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