Real Madrid presented Kylian Mbappe to much fanfare on Tuesday, with the Santiago Bernabeu raucous and loud in the greeting of their new star gladiator. After answering questions for over an hour in the press room, Mbappe will now be on holiday for two to three weeks in all likelihood.
Mbappe’s presentation included a nod to his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, mimicking the ‘1, 2, 3, Hala Madrid’ from the Portuguese’s presentation. The 25-year-old is certainly the first signing since Ronaldo that has brought similar excitement, and he will be paid like a superstar too.
According to Marca, Mbappe will earn a salary of €15m net per year (€30m gross), and will have a signing bonus of between €100m and €115m over the course of his five-year deal. These figures do not include performance-based objectives though, such as winning the Ballon d’Or.
There has also been plenty of conversation about image rights, with Mbappe demanding more than the usual 50% Real Madrid cede – they say he will have between 60% and 80% of his image rights, which will also earn him many millions more. It’s not clear just how much he earned at Paris Saint-Germain, but at the very least, his base salary was double what he will be earning in the Spanish capital.
No doubt the total cost will still be seen as economically efficient by Real Madrid and Florentino Perez, given they are bringing in perhaps the world’s biggest superstar for his prime years, and are doing so without a transfer fee. Given the record transfer for a forward, paid by PSG, is €222m for Neymar Junior, Los Blancos will still feel good about it.
