French forward and national team captain, Kylian Mbappé who is leaving Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), his club of over six years this summer, is expected to be announced by Real Madrid this week and is set to receive a signing-on bonus of just over £85m.
The 25-year-old, who finished with 256 goals in 308 games for PSG, is expected to sign a five-year deal at the Santiago Bernabeu that will pay him £12.8 million (€15 million) after taxes.
Mbappé has long been a target of Real Madrid, who attempted to sign him in 2022. However, the French striker committed to a fresh two-year contract with PSG, which has since expired.
Six years after costing the French team £166 million, Mbappé decided to not trigger a one-year extension in his PSG contract, allowing him to leave as a free agent.
Moving to Santiago Bernabeu has come at a pay sacrifice for the World Cup winner. During the last year of his PSG deal, Mbappé’s gross salary was €75 million (£63.9 million), plus a €30 million (£25.6 million) signing-on incentive.
Real Madrid has made numerous moves on Kylian Mbappé over the years, starting when the player visited the club for an Under-12 trial at the age of 11.
However, his parents felt that he would be better off remaining in France to mature and develop, hence, he made the decision not to stay back in Madrid.
The first time they truly came in for him was in 2017 when he was a Monaco player. However, the transaction failed when PSG entered and took control of it.
Over the past seven years, it has been an off-and-on situation every summer. However, this time, it is really happening.