Wearing the Real Madrid shirt is the dream of any star in the world. Kylian Mbappe has officially arrived at the Bernabeu, but the road to becoming a star here will not be smooth at all.
Like magic, whenever Real Madrid targets a player, sooner or later he will hold the white shirt at the Bernabeu. There have been many attacking players who have set foot here with the hope of upgrading their careers, from Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale to Eden Hazard, but not all of them have been satisfied and immediately successful.
Ronaldo was an instant success upon his move to Real Madrid. Leaving Manchester United in the summer of 2009 to join the Bernabeu for a fee of £80 million (€93 million), Ronaldo immediately made his mark by scoring 33 goals in all competitions, but that was not enough to help him win a title in his first season at Real Madrid. It was not until the 2010-11 season that he won his first title with Real Madrid and the rest of his career at the Bernabeu has been memorable.
In contrast to Ronaldo, Bale and Hazard also came to Real Madrid with the hope of becoming superstars, but the reality did not go as expected. Bale joined Real Madrid from Tottenham in September 2013 for a fee of 100 million euros, but the first half of the 2013-14 season was a nightmare when he only played the full 90 minutes in 5 of the first 16 matches. Although Bale made certain contributions to Real Madrid’s success, such as scoring in the 2018 Champions League final, it is difficult to say that his 9 years at the Bernabeu were completely successful.
Things won’t be easy for Mbappe at Real
At least Bale can still be proud of his contributions to 3 La Liga titles and 5 Champions League titles. Mbappe certainly does not want to follow in Hazard’s footsteps. The Belgian striker left Chelsea to move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2019 for 150 million euros with high expectations of a new superstar to succeed Cristiano Ronaldo. In the end, his 4 years at the Bernabeu were too few goals (just 4 goals in 54 games), but too dense with injuries and below-expected performances.
All of the above cases are a reminder for Mbappe of what he needs to do when he arrives at the Bernabeu. The 25-year-old star has plenty of motivation to prove himself at Real Madrid after a forgettable EURO 2024 with the French team. He will be the main striker at the Bernabeu when surrounded by bright names such as Vinicius, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham. However, the pressure on Mbappe is huge because Real Madrid has been in need of a quality No. 9 since Karim Benzema left. Mbappe himself really wants to get his hands on individual awards like the Ballon d’Or, but to do that is not easy at all. He will have to try to start well like Ronaldo, instead of falling into the struggles that Bale or Hazard experienced.
