‘My dream is fulfilled’ – Kylian Mbappé’s first words as a Real Madrid player

It has been a long road for Kylian Mbappé (25) to become a Real Madrid player. During his official presentation on Tuesday, images showed a 13-year-old Mbappé with Zinédine Zidane at Los Blancos’ Valdebebas training ground. Instead of integrating the academy set-up at the Spanish set-up, he followed a different path, via AS Monaco and then Paris Saint-Germain.

After seven years, Mbappé left PSG on a free transfer this summer, just two years after rejecting Real Madrid in favour of remaining with Les Parisiens. However, history would not repeat itself. This time, Mbappé would not renew his deal, instead joining Real Madrid, where he will wear the No.9 shirt.

Due to this summer’s Euros, Mbappé’s presentation had to wait. However, he was finally presented to 80,000 Real Madrid fans at a packed Bernabeu, all desperate to catch a glimpse of the new signing. Alongside Florentino Perez and Zidane, Mbappé spoke for the first time as a Real Madrid player, in Spanish.

“It is incredible to be here. I have dreamed of playing for Real Madrid for years. My dream is fulfilled today. I  am a particularly happy young man. I want to thank Florentino Perez, who warmly welcomed me from the first day. There have been lots of twists but I’m here. I also want to thank everyone who worked for me to come here. We did it – I’m a Real Madrid player,” said the Frenchman.

After kissing the Real Madrid badge, he added, “It is an incredible day for me. Since I was a kid, I had one dream and it was to come here. It means so much for me to be here […] I now have another dream: it’s to live up to the history of this club, the best in the world. I will give everything to this club.”

GFFN | Luke Entwistle