The French superstar finally joined Los Blancos this past summer on a free transfer, after years of speculation that he would eventually end up in Madrid upon the expiry of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain. Whilst football’s most successful club were never going to say no to the prospect of arguably the world’s best player for no transfer fee, are Madrid now regretting getting the man they so clearly desired?
On the surface, it appears as if Mbappé’s time in Spain has not started as expected. English media and social media outlets have both been quick to push Mbappé’s difficulty adapting to Madrid’s style of play, his less-preferred central striker role, and his apparent forgetting of the offside rule in Real’s humiliating 4-0 loss in the El Clásico early this season.
It was always obvious that there would be some adjusting needed, giving the world’s 2 best left wingers in Mbappé and the Brazilian Vinícius Júnior are now vying for a spot in the same starting 11, but let’s not so easily forget that Mbappé isn’t a stranger to the striker role, having played there successfully whilst his former club PSG had Vini’s compatriot Neymar on their books. However, beneath supposed unhappiness at French international manager Dider Deschamps, and a request to play in his favoured left-wing position, Mbappé is quietly having a decent season given the circumstances.
In what has been a weak Madrid side, Mbappé’s 6 goals in La Liga is a tally only topped by 4 players, all of whom are used to the Spanish League. Whilst his ‘goals per 90’ and ‘assists per 90’ are down so far from his extremely impressive numbers in the French capital, so too are his expected goals and assists, showing that this dip may just be a symptom of adjusting to a less dominant side, in a far more competitive league than Ligue 1, and getting less chances.
Overall, whilst his performances so far are certainly below lofty expectations, Madrid have far bigger things to worry about than a decently performing, and free, world-class Frenchman.