Kylian Mbeckham: A Galactico Too Far

Kylian Mbappe‘s dream move to Real Madrid is, thus far, not working out at all.

The French forward joined Los Blancos this summer on a free transfer (but with a signing bonus believed to be north of €100m) as he finally fulfilled his lifelong dream

But that dream has, and please forgive the cliche, become a nightmare.

A quick disclaimer: Kylian Mbappe is a world-class footballing talent. Perhaps the most talented player on the planet right now, given the age of Leo Messi. His ability is absolutely not in question here, and criticisms found henceforth are regarding matters of form, not class.

Right, with that out the way, he’s been absolutely terrible, hasn’t he?

Like, obviously there are players who are performing worse than he is. Signings, even. Pau Victor has largely been a ghost for Barcelona, Endrick has looked physically robust and nothing else whenever Carlo Ancelotti has deigned to give him minutes, and Clement Lenglet to Atlético Madrid has been, well, Clement Lenglet to Atlético Madrid.

But none of those men are Kylian Mbappe; super striker. Goalscoring phenomenon. 256 goals in 308 games for Paris Saint-Germain. 48 goals in 86 games for France. The guy who, at 25 years-old and with just two World Cups played, has scored more goals in World Cup Finals (4) than anyone else in the history of the sport.

Mbappe’s woes

But for Real Madrid this season, Mbappe has 10 goals in 20 appearances. And if he were a lesser striker or if this was 1998, then sure, that’d be chill. But he’s him, or at least he’s meant to be, and it’s 2024.

Erling Haaland has scored twice in his last nine Premier League appearances, a dry spell of hilarious proportions (stay humble, eh?) and yet he has still got 17 goals in his 20 appearances this season.

Robert Lewandowski, meanwhile, has 22 goals in his 20 appearances this season. Hell, Raphinha has scored 16 times in 21 games. And much as we all love Raphinha, he should not be outscoring Kylian Mbappe.

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To make matters worse, three of Mbappe’s 10 goals have been penalties. Which means he has 7 non-penalty goals in 20 games. Seven! And to make matters even worse, he’s missed his last two penalty attempts against Liverpool and Athletic Club!

This guy who scored three penalties in a World Cup final (two in the match, one in the shootout) against the most mentally resilient goalkeeper on the planet, and he’s fluffing his lines like that? Repeatedly? Just what the hell is going on?

Mbappe: a bad fit for Real Madrid?

The simple but uncomfortable answer is that Kylian Mbappe should not have joined Real Madrid. With their squad as it was constructed heading into the summer of 2024, Mbappe was emphatically not what Los Blancos needed.

When Real Madrid won La Liga and Champions League in 2023/24, they did so using Vini Jr. and Rodrygo as twin forwards who would split wide as “wingers” and allow Jude Bellingham the freedom to charge into the box like 2005-era Frank Lampard (or 2007-era Kaka, to give a more Ancelotti-related comparison).

That system occasionally required the presence of a genuine centre-forward, a big ol’ boy up-top, and when that happened they sent for Joselu. The 33 year-old Newcastle and Stoke flop who was on loan from Espanyol. And Joselu did his job, scoring an incredible 18 times across the whole season.

Obviously you always want to evolve after a great success (take notes, Man City!) but replacing Joselu, a hard-working player whose role was focused on largely helping others, with Mbappe, a mercurial genius whose positional profile was basically the same as Vini Jr’s, was a tremendously stupid idea even before Toni Kroos’ shock retirement created a cavernous hole in the middle of the pitch.

What Real Madrid needed

What Real Madrid needed in summer 2024 was an upgrade on Joselu. A proper no. 9 to start at the head of the team and be a reference for others. Robert Lewandowski and Harry Kane are the paragons, but neither is obtainable for Madrid given Lewandowski was at hated-rivals Barcelona and Kane had just joined Bayern Munich a summer ago.

But Victor Osimhen was available. And maybe he’s not as rounded as the other two but he’s a big striker, a proper striker, and he spent all summer trying to leave Napoli. Alexander Sorloth joined rivals Atlético for just €32m and hell, Serhou Guirassy joined Borussia Dortmund for just €18m!

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All of those strikers would have scored goals themselves but crucially they would have been a great foil for the likes of Vini Jr. and Jude Bellingham, allowing them to continue growing into the game-dominating force that they were becoming.

Instead, Florentino Perez went for Mbappe. His obsession. Year after year, Madrid courted the Frenchman only to be continually rebuffed as he stayed in Paris and earned increasingly despicable amounts of money.

And while it made perfect sense for Madrid to chase Mbappe in 2020 or 2021, once Vini Jr. exploded into a world-class winger under Carlo Ancelotti, that sense dissipated.

Even moreso once Karim Benzema, a compatriot and role model for Mbappe, left Real Madrid in the summer of 2023. The prospect of combining Mbappe and Benzema was mouthwatering (and Vini would just have to change positions) but, once he left and Jude Bellingham came in, the needs of the team changed.

But Florentino Perez didn’t waver.

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To make matters worse, the same summer Madrid signed Mbappe, they lost Toni Kroos to retirement. Their midfield metronome was at the heart of all their success in 2023/24, and would need immediate replacement.

But with all the summer funds going on Mbappe, no attention was paid to midfield. The players that were already at the club would have to fill in, except none of them had or have the skill-set to do what Toni Kroos did.

History repeating for Real Madrid

So, a big shiny signing, an obsession for Florentino Perez, was brought in at the expense of a much-needed and very unique type of midfielder?

Does that sound familiar, Madridistas?

Because it’s exactly what happened 21 years ago when Florentino Perez sold defensive midfield genius Claude Makelele and signed fancy crossing genius David Beckham.

Beckham was a magnificent attacking player but Real Madrid already had loads of magnificent attacking players, including a world-class superstar in Beckham’s exact position (Figo). Just like Vini is literally in the same position Mbappe wants.

Moreover, Makelele was the essential defensive counterweight to a team that was otherwise so top-heavy they could receive a starring credit on Baywatch (ask your father).

Now it’s a different balance, with Madrid having defenders and workhorses for days, but no one with the right kind of tactical brain to control the tempo of a match the way that Toni Kroos did.

In 2003, Madrid became obscene and unwieldy. Beckham had no place in the side, forcing himself to try and be a box-to-box midfield dynamo. It didn’t work. Real Madrid signed Thomas Graveson from Everton mid-season (no, really) to address their defensive issues, even though Graveson had been a box-to-box midfielder for Everton and it was Lee Carsley who held midfield ala Makelele. That didn’t work either.

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Madrid became a mess, basically. The entire Galactico project (two Champions Leagues and two La Ligas from 2000-2003) unravelled as Barcelona began to establish themselves as the dominant force in Spanish and world football for the coming decade powered by a striker with a Jupiter-size ego and a Brazilian whose name began with R plus a quiet teenager from La Masia on the wings.

Now in 2024 we have a Real Madrid side that has won two Champions Leagues and two La Ligas from 2022-2024 before neglecting midfield to sign a big name superstar they didn’t need.

Meanwhile, Barcelona are rising, top of the table, having smashed Real Madrid 0-4 earlier in the season and are powered by a striker with a Jupiter-size ego and Brazilian whose name begins with R plus a quiet teenager from La Masia on the wings.

So, at least to this point, things are unraveling for Real Madrid in pretty much the exact same way they did 21 years ago.

He may not be able to fix their midfield, but Kylian Mbappe has the talent to change Madrid’s downward trajectory. He has the goalscoring power to fire them into contention this season no matter the dysfunction behind him. There’s no doubt about it.

The question is: will he? Or just as with David Beckham, is he a Galactico too far for Real Madrid?