2024-07-11 01:45:02
Real Madrid will present new star signing Kylian Mbappé at the Bernabéu on July 16, the club announced on Wednesday, adding that the France captain will wear the No. 9 shirt for Los Blancos.
Mbappé joined Madrid on a five-year deal this summer after his contract expired at Paris Saint-Germain, ending the LaLiga giants’ years-long pursuit of the player.
Madrid fans are expected to pack the 81,000 capacity Bernabéu for Mbappé’s unveiling, in what would be the club’s largest-scale player presentation since the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.
Mbappé’s France were eliminated by Spain in the Euro 2024 semifinals this week, after the forward suffered a broken nose in his first game of the tournament and scored just one goal in five appearances.
“It was a failure. We had the ambition to be European champions…We aren’t that, so it’s a failure,” Mbappé said afterwards.
“We have to move on. It’s been a long year. I’m going to go on holiday and get some rest — that’ll do me a lot of good, and I’ll try and come back strongly.”
Madrid have not yet confirmed if Mbappé will join them on their pre-season tour of the United States, which begins later this month against AC Milan at Soldier Field on July 31, before playing Barcelona at MetLife Stadium on Aug. 3, and Chelsea at Bank of America Stadium on Aug. 6.
The LaLiga champions will then play Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup in Warsaw on Aug. 14, before beginning their defence of the league title away at Mallorca on Aug. 18.
After breaking his nose against Austria, Mbappé wore a protective mask in France’s Euro 2024 games against Poland, Belgium and Portugal, before dispensing with it for Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to Spain.
France coach Didier Deschamps had suggested Mbappé would need to wear the mask during games for “weeks or maybe months” before the Spain clash.
Madrid announced the signing of Mbappé on June 3, bringing an end to one of football’s longest-running transfer sagas.
Mbappé came close to joining Madrid before he moved to PSG from Monaco in 2017, and again in 2022, when a last-minute change of plans saw him sign a new deal in Paris.
He scored 256 goals in seven seasons at PSG — making him the club’s all-time top scorer — winning six Ligue 1 titles and being named Ligue 1 player of the season five times.
