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Mbappé from PSG to Real Madrid and other epic transfer sagas


  • Chris Wright, Toe Poke writerFebruary 16, 2024, 07:30 am ET

With the news that Kylian Mbappé has informed Paris Saint-Germain of his intention to leave the club this summer and join Real Madrid, fans around the world can now breathe a collective sigh of relief that the end is finally near. for one of the modern football players. longer transfer sagas.

Mbappé's contract expires at the end of the season and it seems the striker has finally decided it is the right time to join The whitesthe one club he has been relentlessly linked with more than any other in recent years.

Sources told ESPN's Julien Laurens this month that Mbappé had made a final decision on his future and was keen to move to the Bernabeu, although the 25-year-old had not informed either club of his professional aspirations.

But on Thursday Mbappé verbalized his intentions to PSG and will, in all likelihood, join Madrid when he becomes a free agent in June, bringing a merciful end to the Spanish giant's protracted pursuit of the coveted French international.

Mbappé has made no secret of his desire to play for Real Madrid and even had a trial with them when he was a young teenager in 2012. It is strange to think that, if Real had chosen to take the step back then, they may have saved (and all of us) an enormous amount of time, money and effort.

The story joins the list of sagas we've had to endure for entire summers, entire seasons, and even more in recent years, some of which didn't even make it out of the gossip columns.

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Manchester United's quest to sign Sancho from Borussia Dortmund reached “saga” status just before the start of the 2020-21 season. After many months of rumours, the Bundesliga club ran out of patience after weeks of arduous negotiations and walked away from the table when United refused to pay the asking price of €120 million.

Speculation then continued for another year until the two teams finally relented and reached a deal in July 2021 which saw Sancho finally move to Old Trafford in a five-year deal worth around €85 million. .

But, after a reasonable start to life at United, it soon transpired that Sancho lost form and then completely fell out of favor with manager Erik ten Hag. After a period in which he was excluded from the first team, his loan return to Dortmund in January provided an escape from his Premier League purgatory. The England international celebrated by echoing Michael Jordan's famous two-word phrase when he returned to the Chicago Bulls in 1995: “I'm back.”

Who can forget the LeBron James-inspired mini-documentary commissioned by Atlético star Griezmann when speculation about a possible move to Barcelona began to gain steam in the summer of 2018?

France striker produced a short film that showed him openly discussing his future with friends and family members only to come to the big reveal that he had decided to stay at Atleti with the message: “My fans, my team, MY HOUSE!!!”

Several months later came a second announcement from Griezmann that he had changed his mind and now intended to leave the club and, sure enough, the huge €120 million transfer to Barça occurred the following year.

Neymar (Barcelona-Paris Saint-Germain)

As if his original transfer from Santos to Barcelona wasn't contentious enough, Neymar really upped the ante when he decided he wanted to leave for PSG in the summer of 2017. PSG eagerly activated the Brazilian striker's €222 million release clause. , but LaLiga rejected the payment. , citing FFP violation issues and causing an intense dispute between all those involved. Despite Gerard Piqué's insistence that Neymar would stayThe transfer of the world record was finally finalized in early August 2017.

Then, two years later, Neymar decided he'd had enough at PSG and wanted to return to Barcelona, ​​kicking off another three months of headlines that continued to appear throughout the summer of 2019. Alas, Barça and PSG couldn't achieve it. Things work out and Neymar was forced to stay put, holding out until August 2023, when he completed a transfer to Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal.

Four years after leaving for just £800,000, Pogba finally made his big return to United in 2016 in a world-record transfer that gave Juventus a comfortable £88 million profit on their investment. The clamor for his signature generated months of uproar, with Juve offering a new contract and Real Madrid also sniffing around to further complicate matters. However, Pogba chose to listen to his mother and returned to Old Trafford with the intention of fulfilling his “destiny.”

It took so long for the deal to be done that most people fell asleep when the official announcement video with Stormzy, which is considered one of the most ingenious transfer reveals ever, was released after midnight in Manchester .

Unfortunately things didn't go well for Pogba. Despite some flashes of brilliance from him that would help lead France to World Cup glory in 2018, the midfielder failed to win over many of those skeptical of him. His six-year spell, which was regularly interrupted by injuries, ended in subdued fashion with a (another) return to Juve in July 2022.

Luis Suárez (Liverpool-Barcelona)

In the summer of 2013, Suárez had decided to leave Liverpool to test his undeniable talent in the Champions League, preferably with Barcelona. The waters then became muddied when Arsenal submitted a £40,000,001 bid for Suarez in the belief that he would trigger the Uruguayan's £40m release clause. Infamously, he didn't..

However, Suárez threw a public tantrum over not being allowed to leave Liverpool, claiming that the club had promised him he could leave if they didn't win the Champions League (they had just finished seventh in the league).

Following time-honored tradition, Suárez's complaints were mitigated with a massive pay rise and the promise that if he gave the Reds one more good season, he would be allowed to go wherever he wanted the following summer. Suarez duly delivered, scoring 31 goals as Liverpool finished second in 2013-14, although their title challenge fizzled out right at the end. His main man left for Camp Nou in a £75m deal soon after and won the treble in his first season there.

Bale's big move to the Bernabéu concluded in September 2013 after negotiations dragged on throughout the summer, day after day, week after week. As has become his trademark, Spurs president Daniel Levy was fully prepared to play hardball with his star man, ultimately taking Bale's fee above the world record sum Madrid paid for Cristiano. Ronaldo four years earlier.

The entire move reportedly came close to collapsing on several occasions as concerns over Bale's injuries continued to resurface, but Levy and Madrid managed to get over the line in the end for a historic new fee of €100 million, to great relief. of absolutely everyone.

Cesc Fàbregas (from Arsenal to Barcelona)

While rumors of Fàbregas returning to his boyhood Barcelona had persisted for years, things really escalated to almost unbearable levels during the 2009-10 season. Several Barça players had already been publicly pining for Cesc's return to Catalonia (see Xavi's infamous comment about “Barça DNA”).

Things came to a head when Carles Puyol and Pepe Reina executed an ambush by forcibly throwing a Barça shirt over the Arsenal midfielder's shoulders during Spain's celebrations after winning the 2010 World Cup.

In the end, the lure proved irresistible and Fàbregas re-signed for Barça in August 2011 for an initial fee of €29 million, ending one of the most overwrought and emotionally manipulative transfer sagas in living memory.

Cristiano Ronaldo (from Manchester United to Real Madrid)

It all started on the day of the 2008 Champions League final, when several prominent Spanish newspapers published stories that Ronaldo was leaving United to try his luck at the Bernabeu. Resentment between United and Real rumbled for months as the Spanish press continued to fan the flames over a supposed “gentleman's agreement” that had been reached in private between all parties involved.

As you can imagine, this infuriated United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who made the immortal comment that he “wouldn't sell them”. [Real] a virus”, not to mention their best player. Fergie also stated that signing for “that mafia” would be “the worst possible thing” for Ronaldo's career.

Unfortunately, Fergie's caustic words of caution were not heeded, and the Portuguese international eventually signed. The whites in a world-record €94 million transfer in June 2009. In retrospect, it worked out quite well for Ronaldo, who left 11 years later having won four Champions Leagues and becoming the club's all-time leading scorer. .

Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid/Inter Milan/Galatasaray to Manchester United)

There was a time, not long ago, when Sniejder was constantly on the verge of joining United. He has become the archetype of non-transference. The Netherlands international almost single-handedly fueled football rumors during many transfer windows, as it was reported that he came close to moving to Old Trafford every six months during the peak years of his career.

To be fair, there was a point where there may have been initial contact with United representatives about a possible move, but nothing tangible ever emerged. However, that didn't stop rumors constantly touting Sneijder with a move to the Premier League club, as he helped Inter win the treble in 2010 and starred for his country in multiple tournaments between 2008 and 2014.

In the end, it became something of a joke, but it wasn't until he announced his retirement in 2019 after a season at Qatari club Al Gharafa that the issue was completely resolved.



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