Mbappe on alert as deadliest striker you've never heard of saves Real Madrid

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FT Desk

Kylian Mbappe will need to start off the new Real Madrid season like a house on fire, as there's a young star waiting patiently to take his spot if he underperforms.

The Frenchman was sublime for Los Blancos last season, in front of goal at least, with strikes 42 goals in 44 games across all competitions.

However, club ended up with a rare trophyless campaign and Mbappe found himself the target of some Madridistas for some of his behaviour and conduct.

Outlets including L’Équipe said an increasing number of Madrid players became frustrated by Kylian Mbappe's behaviour on and off the pitch, calling it “self‑centred” and “too individualistic.” That created real tension in the dressing room, not just from fans, who have actually created a petition to have him removed from the club as well as a site counting down the seconds until his contract expires.

Mbappe was also described as being isolated, with sources saying he is mainly close to French players like Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni and Ferland Mendy, while relationships with others – including Jude Bellingham and parts of the coaching staff – were reportedly frosty. Add in alleged incidents like disrespectful comments to staff and being 45 minutes late to a team lunch with no real consequences, and you get a situation where some teammates clearly don’t rate him as a team player, even if they still respect his talent.

Reports then emerged about a confrontation between Mbappe and Bellingham.

“On a day when the Bernabeu whistled at the players and singled out Bellingham, there was a major confrontation between Bellingham and Mbappe at halftime. It was a serious clash, and there have been more,” journalist Roberto Morales revealed on El Partidazo de la Cadena COPE.

When Mbappe signed with Real Madrid, there was always going to be friction between the new golden boy and the previous one, Vinicius Junior simply due to the egos involved.

“If we go a little further back, Vinicius caused a scene when Mbappe returned during the Club World Cup under Xabi Alonso. That was when the relationship between Vinicius and Xabi Alonso started to become strained because he was played in a position he does not like, and Vinicius said he did not want to play there. That was also when he began to feel that Xabi Alonso was giving Mbappe affection and attention that he was not receiving himself. If you keep pulling the thread, you can see there have been many more situations,” Morales explained further.

Even though Mbappe will start fresh this season, coming off a World Cup in which he became the top goalscorer in the history of the competition, he will need to perform well quickly so that the tension of last season can be forgotten.

Jose Mourinho was brought in as head coach to deal with the multitude of egos in the dressing room and that likely includes benching players who are underperforming or who don't hold the best interests of the team.

There's new pressure on Mbappe as he apparently now has real competition for that starting centre-forward spot from one Carlos Espi, a summer signing for €25 million from Levante.

Mourinho wanted a centre-forward both smart in the box and strong aerially, COPE reports, and the club responded by snapping up one of the most promising youngsters in Spain.

Espi’s explosion last season may have been comparatively quiet due to the strife at Levante, who struggled to survive in their first season back in the top-flight amid financial difficulties, but it was no less spectacular for it.

He had hinted at his potential in front of goal as Levante won La Liga 2 in 2024/25, scoring six goals when used almost exclusively as a substitute, but it was last term he finally won a starting spot. And once in the team, he could not stop scoring. Of his 11 league goals, 10 came in the final 13 matches of the season. He barely had minutes before then.

When it came to goals per 90 in La Liga, Espi found himself in heady company. His 0.74 stacked up impressively against even the best in the league, finishing fourth behind his new Real Madrid team-mate Mbappe and Barcelona duo Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski.

The veteran Pole aside, he was La Liga’s deadliest pure No.9 of the type Mourinho requested – and according to data analytics firm SciSports, he was the league’s best finisher statistically who featured for more than 500 minutes of action.

Espi made his competitive debut for the capital club on Saturday and emerged as the hero on the night.

While Mbappe and Vinicius Junior had off-nights, Espi came off the bench to score the winner from close range after Espanyol had previously pegged Madrid back, following Bellingham's opener.

It was exactly the type of goal that Espi was signed to score and, even if Mbappe will always be the starter, he knows he'll have to perform with the young usurper waiting to enter the action.

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FT Desk

FootballTransfers' desk

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