Florentino Perez slams Kylian Mbappe
Suraj Radia
- 16 Jun 2022 16:55 BST
- 3 min read
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was critical of Kylian Mbappe following his last-minute decision to stay at Paris Saint-Germain, claiming 'this Mbappe is not the Mbappe he knows'.
Mbappe was believed to have an agreement to join Madrid but instead chose to sign a three-year extension with PSG, leaving Madrid fuming.
Perez denied claims that the striker had betrayed him and refused to rule out returning for him in the future but admitted he wouldn't be interested in signing 'this Mbappe'
“He didn’t betray me. He transmitted his dream to play at Real Madrid. And it’s true," Perez told El Chiringuito. "I never said it's over between Mbappé and Real Madrid forever. In 3 years, many things can change.
"But I prefer Mbappé to stay at PSG because this isn't the Mbappé I know. I don't want him right now."
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“This Mbappe, is not Mbappe. A player that refuses to do an act of sponsorship with his national team, I don’t want. I thought that he had a dream, but sometimes they [dreams] can’t be realised because of external causes.”
“The Mbappe I wanted was the one that dreamed of Real Madrid.”
Florentino Pérez doesn't close the door for a potential Kylian Mbappé deal in the future: "Real Madrid will be always open to buy players who understand that no one is bigger than the club". ⚪️🇫🇷 #RealMadrid pic.twitter.com/wKJvxdTn6D
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 15, 2022
Perez: Mbappe changed his mind because of external pressure
Mbappe's decision was also influenced by a phone call from French president Emmanuel Macron, a move which Perez was also critical of.
Perez said: "Last August PSG didn’t want to sell. We waited a year and he kept saying the same thing. Fifteen days before the situation changed because of the political pressure and the economic factor.”
“He did what he thought was easiest. He changed. There’s no need to go over it again.
"As a result of the pressure he had to change his dreams… he’s very young, the pressure affects us all but the young people more.
"It didn’t make sense that the President of the Republic [Macron] was calling him… This influenced him a lot, most definitely.”
