After years of transfer talk and rumours of moving clubs, it appears as though Kylian Mbappe may finally be ready to say goodbye to Paris and become the latest in a long line of galacticos.
Recent reports have suggested that the French superstar has informed PSG that he will be leaving the club at the end of this season with his contract set to expire in the summer, bringing an end to seven years at the Parc des Princes after his $180m move from AS Monaco.
The news on Tuesday confirmed that Mbappe has indeed agreed a deal to sign for Real Madrid in the summer, with the Spanish giants finally getting their man.
If Mbappe is to join Los Blancos though, there may have to be a change of system to get arguably the world’s greatest player into a team filled with huge potential and already world-class players.
This season has seen Carlo Ancelotti deploy a new 4-3-1-2 system with Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo moving more centrally to fill the void left by Karim Benzema’s departure in the summer window. The move into this new system has certainly been productive for Madrid with Jude Bellingham one of the main beneficiaries of playing higher up the pitch for the first time in his career.
His new role allows him to crash into the box while giving him the defensive support of three central midfielders behind him, and this has led to the Englishman already managing 20 goals and seven assists in his first 29 games for his new club.
When Mbappe joins this side the question would be whether Ancelotti displaces one of his forward pair, meaning one of Rodrygo or Vinicius would miss out, or if a change in system would have to take place, which could see a fall in Bellingham’s efficiency in front of goal.
We believe the most probable scenario would see Ancelotti part with this season’s system that sees Los Blancos currently sit six points clear in La Liga with just one loss this season, while they are still seen as one of the favourites to win the UEFA Champions League.
While Rodrygo is undoubtedly a fantastic talent, he would be more likely to drop out of the starting XI with Mbappe up front on his own, ahead of a world-class forward line.
In this case, the starting XI could take shape with Thibaut Courtois in goal, Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy as full-backs with Eder Militao and Antonio Rudiger making up the rest of the defence. The midfield could see Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga feature, with Federico Valverde in a more advanced role alongside Jude Bellingham and Vinicius. Mbappe would take up a loan role up front.
This would leave a huge amount of quality depth for Ancelotti to rotate his team around with players such as David Alaba, Toni Kroos, Brahim Diaz, Rodrygo and many more potentially missing out.
Real Madrid are already the most successful club in Champions League history with 14 victories to their name, but a star-studded line up like this could well see them win even more and take Mbappe to his first European trophy.
Real Madrid 2024/25 starting XI: (4-2-3-1)
Thibaut Courtois, Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Antonio Rudiger, Ferland Mendy, Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe
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