Madrid: French football star Kylian Mbappe was unveiled as Real Madrid's newest signee in front of a packed Santigo Bernabeu on Tuesday.
Earlier in June, after years of speculation, Mbappe joined the Spanish club as a free agent. The 25-year-old World Cup winner with France joins a Madrid team that is already loaded with talent and still celebrating its latest triumph in the La Liga competition. He is finally leaving the French football giants, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Mbappe will be wearing jersey number nine with the iconic club. Thousands of club supporters thronged to the stadium to witness the official unveiling of the new 'Galactico' Mbappe. Also present at the ceremony was the French and Real Madrid football icon Zinedine Zidane, who made a surprise appearance.
Mbappe was welcomed to the stadium, dressed in iconic white colours of Real Madrid, to loud cheers from the crowd, who had awaited this sight for years.
Delivering his speech, Mbappe said that he dreamt of playing for the club one day and his dream has finally come true. He also said that after accomplishing this one dream of his, he aims to live up to the rich history of the club, which he called the "best in the world".
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"Hello everyone. I will try to speak in Spanish. It is incredible to be here. I dreamt of playing for Real Madrid for years. This dream has come true today, I am a particularly happy young man. I would like to thank club president Florentino Perez, who welcomed me warmly from the first day. There have been many twists and turns but here I am. I would also like to thank all the people who worked to get me here. We succeeded: I am a Real Madrid player! I see my family happy, my mother crying," said Mbappe, as quoted by Goal.com.
"It has been an incredible day for me. Since I was a child, I had only one dream, and that was to be here. It means a lot to me to be here. Thanks to the Real fans who have been showering me with love for years. I have another dream now, and that is to live up to the history of this club, the best in the world. I am going to give my all for this club. To all the children here, know that I was like you, I had a dream and I made it come true. With determination, you can achieve anything you want. This is so huge for me. I am proud to be here. I am not going to continue talking because otherwise I will shed tears. Uno, dos, tres: Hala Madrid!" he concluded.
Mbappe joined PSG from AS Monaco in 2017, and since then, he played 290 matches for the Paris club and scored 243 goals. The French striker was 19 years old when he left his childhood club for PSG.
In the recently concluded season of Ligue 1, the Frenchman appeared in 29 matches and got the back of the net 27 times. He also made 7 assists in the French League.
However, Mbappe never hid from accepting that his dream was to play for 14-time UEFA Champions League (UCL) winner Real Madrid.
For the last several years, the Los Blancos were trying to bring him to Madrid, but Mbappe was not keen on an exit before the expiration of his contract.
In 2021, Real Madrid went all out to sign Mbappe, offering 220 million euros. However, PSG turned it down. In the recently concluded UEFA Euro competition, Mbappe led France to the semifinals of the competition, where they lost 1-2 to Spain. In the tournament, Mbappe scored a goal and delivered two assists.
—ANI