Why Mbappe never wanted to sign for Barcelona despite interest

The times (and there have been a few) that Barcelona have approached Kylian Mbappe's family about signing the French striker they have always found the same response.

"I'm a Barça fan but Kylian is Real Madrid. If he goes to Barça now, he could never end up playing for Madrid. If he goes to another club, he could still end up at Madrid."

That was the answer from Wilfred Mbappe in 2017, the player's father, before accepting the offer from Paris Saint-Germain, and again more recently, when he contemplated his options for the future.

Mbappe's future will be one of the stories of the year, although, little by little, Madrid are being left without opposition due to the forward's strong stance.

Liverpool were also keen but have disappeared from the map, as have Manchester City and Barca, who have not been given any encouragement. And so it's down to two options: stay at PSG or join Madrid.

Madrid were smart a decade ago when they invited the young Mbappe (during the school holidays around Christmas time) to train at Valdebebas for a week.

They had heard rumours about the player and his potential through Zinedine Zidane and they had no doubts in setting up the first Mbappe-Madrid meeting. The whole family were invited. Mbappe was in awe at the interest shown in him by Zidane, a French legend, and the chance of seeing Cristiano Ronaldo, having a private chauffeur, being in a box at the Bernabeu...

Madrid are now reaping the rewards for that and could sign the best player in the world for free. It's a masterclass from the club because it's not common to sign a player capable of marking an era in European football without paying a huge transfer fee.

The chaos in Paris, where there's a dressing room with problems, is in Madrid's favour. PSG have a coach that wants to go, stars players that are difficult to keep happy, signings that don't make sense, clans... L'Equipe has revealed that Mbappe has complained about all of that and they are reasons he won't accept their huge renewal offer yet.

Mbappe knows that in PSG he is not the centre of everything (even if he is on the pitch) and after demonstrating his maturity in the French league he is ready to take a new turn in his career. Madrid are waiting with open arms. Now all that remains is for them not to sign Erling Haaland because he could encounter the same problems in Spain...