Do you still remember the words Luis Enrique spoke in August 2024? “If someone can score 40 goals, Paris will certainly welcome him. But if we have 4 players each scoring 12 goals, that's 48 goals – that would be even better.”
That was during the pre-match press conference for Paris Saint-Germain's home game against Le Havre in the opening round of the 24/25 Ligue 1 season, when a reporter asked, "What will the team do after Mbappé leaves?" Enrique's answer was clever. Instead of discussing signings or solutions, he casually dropped this now-famous quote that has been repeatedly referenced ever since.
Two years later, Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain has reached the Champions League final for the second consecutive season. Meanwhile, the man he referred to as the "40-goal scorer" is caught in a whirlwind at the Santiago Bernabéu, trapped in an unprecedented crisis of confidence.
On May 5, a website named "mbappeout" was launched, initiating a fan petition calling for Real Madrid to sell Mbappé. Initially, the website aimed to collect 200,000 signatures, but within four hours of going live, the number of signatures exceeded 1 million. By the afternoon of the following day, the number had surpassed 10 million.
Admittedly, L'Équipe suggested there might be vote-rigging in this petition campaign, but the true significance of this incident does not lie in the accuracy of the data. Rather, it lies in why an outpouring of fan sentiment could spark such a massive wave in such a short period of time?
While Mbappé was being pushed to the forefront by Real Madrid fans, his former club Paris Saint-Germain, led by Enrique, was going from strength to strength. In the second leg of the 25/26 Champions League semi-final, they drew 1-1 away to Bayern Munich, eliminating the German giants with an aggregate score of 6-5 and reaching the Champions League final for the second consecutive season.
When these two news stories appeared one after another, everyone could imagine how awkward Mbappé must feel now, having transferred from Paris to Real Madrid in 2024.
Before joining Real Madrid, Mbappé spent seven years at Paris, progressing from the Round of 16 in the 17/18 season to runners-up in 19/20 and the semi-finals in 23/24, but never helped the club win the Champions League. After joining Real Madrid on a free transfer in the summer of 2024, everyone believed the arrival of this French speedster would complete the final piece of the championship puzzle for Real Madrid, while Paris would likely face an unspeakable rebuilding dilemma.
But what has been the reality?
In their first season without Mbappé, Paris won six trophies: the Champions League, Ligue 1, Coupe de France, UEFA Super Cup, Trophée des Champions. In this season, they have maintained steady performance, once again reaching the Champions League final where they will face Mikel Arteta's Arsenal at the end of May. In contrast, Mbappé and his Real Madrid side. Despite the French speedster's impressive statistics – 41 goals in 41 matches across all competitions, making him a strong contender for both the La Liga and Champions League Golden Boots – Real Madrid has been eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for two consecutive seasons, trailing Barcelona by 9 points in La Liga, knocked out of the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España, facing another disappointing season without any silverware.
A Superstar Raised in a “Greenhouse”
To understand why Mbappé has become the target of widespread criticism, we must first examine the "greenhouse" environment he enjoyed during his seven years at Paris.
Let's start with a relatively minor incident.
In April 2023, Paris released a membership renewal promotional video using interview footage of Mbappé. Mbappé immediately expressed his dissatisfaction on social media, writing: “I have just watched the content of the club's 23/24 season renewal promotional video. At no point was I informed that the interview content would be used for this purpose.”
Although the club's unauthorized use of the player's image rights was a procedural error, the fact that the player publicly challenged the club and the matter was ultimately resolved with club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi personally calling to explain speaks volumes about Mbappé's extraordinary status at Paris.
And this special treatment extended far beyond commercial matters. A investigative report by The Athletic also stated that Mbappé's contract renewal negotiations included content beyond a typical player contract. For example, his renewal talks included a demand to appoint Luis Campos as the club's sporting director. Additionally, Mbappé personally involved himself in the club's transfer affairs, even directly contacting Robert Lewandowski and Aurélien Tchouameni, hoping they would join the team (notably, after leaving the club, Mbappé publicly denied through L'Équipe that his contract renewal was linked to team management decisions).
Image rights distribution provided even more direct evidence of special treatment. When renewing his contract in 2022, Paris granted Mbappé 100% ownership of his image rights – a first in the club's history. For an emerging giant with relatively shallow roots, highly dependent on star images for global marketing, what did giving up player image rights mean? It meant the club was surrendering part of its brand voice and commercial monetization capabilities – all just to secure a player's signature.
Moreover, Mbappé's preferential treatment at Paris was not limited to commercial operations and contract terms, but extended to an entire locker room dynamic that revolved around him – this was the core structure of the “greenhouse.”
Pablo Sarabia, a midfielder who has since transferred to Wolverhampton Wanderers, made a thought-provoking comment in an interview with The Daily Telegraph: "Playing with Messi, Mbappé, and Neymar was an incredible experience. But for me, the most important thing was feeling my own importance within the team." He didn't state things explicitly, but compared to his subsequent descriptions of Wolverhampton, multiple media outlets including GOAL interpreted this as criticism of Paris's locker room culture, describing them as “a collection of individuals.”
In July 2023, during an exclusive interview with France Football, Mbappé publicly stated that winning the Ballon d'Or would be "more difficult" at Paris (but after he left, Ousmane Dembélé won the award), and described Paris as "a divided team." These remarks undoubtedly ignited a powder keg at Paris, with several players directly submitting the article to Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and some even deeming it "an insult to the team." However, facing their star player, Paris's response was silence. The players' complaints received no public response from the club, and Mbappé faced no internal punishment for his provocative interview. That season, Mbappé continued to play the role of the team's offensive centerpiece.
This uncritical "indulgence" may have fostered a fatal habit in Mbappé: no matter what controversy he encountered, he would always be protected. Someone would always handle the surrounding noise for him.
This pattern even extended to the national team. After former national team captain Hugo Lloris retired in 2023, Didier Deschamps handed the captain's armband to the then 25-year-old Mbappé, rather than Antoine Griezmann, who had more experience and greater locker room prestige.
The Athletic quoted a source within the French national team who stated: Mbappé was granted almost unlimited freedom within the national team, allowed to run freely on the pitch and appear in any position, even if it overlapped with other attacking teammates' movement patterns. Although Mbappé's "privileges" did not cause public conflicts, the national team's various arrangements had already affected other players' performances.
From image rights to personnel decisions, from locker room dynamics to tactical freedom in the national team, Mbappé was surrounded by a highly consistent philosophy during his seven years at Paris. People from top to bottom built him a "greenhouse": tactical systems were constructed around him, personnel arrangements were linked to him, commercial arrangements made concessions for him, and locker room atmosphere centered on him. Six consecutive Ligue 1 Golden Boots were a brilliant facade, while the harsh reality of a maximum of 8 Champions League goals in a single season revealed the tactical embarrassment of this “exclusive system.”
Madrid's “Rejection Reaction”
With such "exclusive treatment," when Mbappé moved to Madrid, things quickly changed.
The most direct response was not fluctuations in Mbappé's form, but a "rejection reaction." Mbappé, raised in a "greenhouse," experienced comprehensive "rejection" from Real Madrid, a team filled with superstars, in both tactics and psychology.
Starting with the tactical aspect. In April, when Mbappé appeared on the podcast of his dual international teammate Aurélien Tchouameni, he publicly admitted that he participated less in the team's defensive efforts: "I am a player who defends a bit less than others, and sometimes this can be a problem. It's true, I do contribute less. But I've noticed that when I do defend, it has a tangible impact on the team." Mundo Deportivo also compared defensive statistics of La Liga attackers in the 25/26 season. Robert Lewandowski was involved in 83 defensive actions, averaging 17.38 per game, while Mbappé averaged only 9.77. The gap was equally significant in terms of ball recoveries.
In addition to his limited defensive involvement, when Mbappé played, there was a noticeable shift in Real Madrid's entire frontline structure. Both he and Vinícius Júnior are players accustomed to operating on the left flank, resulting in significant overlap in their movement areas. Meanwhile, when Mbappé occupied the central-left channel, it wasn't just Vinícius who was squeezed. Jude Bellingham was forced to move to the wing to fill a space that shouldn't have been his responsibility. The three players' positions became entangled – Mbappé needed the left flank, Vinícius couldn't do without the left flank, and Bellingham was pushed out of the center. The result was not synergy, but cancellation of each other's efforts.
In April, Bernd Schuster stated directly on Movistar+: These two (Mbappé and Vinícius) simply cannot form an understanding, similar to the coexistence problem between Luís Figo and David Beckham back in the day, and ultimately one of them will have to leave. He cited a set of figures: in two seasons playing together, Real Madrid scored 261 goals in total, with only about 6% coming from direct cooperation between the two. The outside world originally expected "multiplication of strength," but after two years, the outcome was “mutual cancellation.”
Real Madrid's win rate also tells the same story. Spanish channel Six conducted a statistical analysis: in the 14 matches Mbappé started in 2026, Real Madrid won only 7, scoring 25 goals and conceding 17. In the 13 matches he didn't start, Real Madrid won 10, scoring 35 goals and conceding 14. In the last 7 matches Mbappé started, Real Madrid won only 1, while in the last 7 matches he didn't play, Real Madrid won 6.
Although OPTA data from February showed that Real Madrid's win rate was 71% when Mbappé started and only 55% when he didn't, as the season progressed, these figures fluctuated significantly. Real Madrid operated under completely different logics with and without Mbappé: with Mbappé on the field, it was more like an individual show, while without him, the team leaned towards collective play.
And more fatal than the tactical "rejection" was the collapse of trust in Mbappé off the field.
According to a report by The Athletic, during training before Real Madrid's away match against Real Betis on April 24, he was ruled offside by a coaching staff member acting as a linesman during a practice drill, and immediately confronted the coach. Although this incident did not result in any internal punishment for Mbappé, it was clear that Madrid was not Paris, and Mbappé could not get the "greenhouse" he desired here.
The subsequent "Sardinia Incident" became the "last straw" that broke everyone's patience. During the match against Real Betis on April 25, Mbappé suffered a muscle injury to the back of his left thigh and was placed on the injury list. With the team in the most crucial stage of the season, Mbappé was photographed vacationing in Cagliari with his girlfriend, actress Emma Esposito.
Even though Mbappé's team issued a statement saying the trip was arranged during the team's scheduled rest period, "the player's rehabilitation program was fully under the club's strict supervision," and many online accusations were "overinterpretations," in early March, Mbappé had already told Florentino Pérez that he would no longer receive treatment from Real Madrid's medical staff, trusting only his personal doctor from his Paris days.
As a result, angry fans began to vent their emotions constantly on social media, with every tweet from Real Madrid's official social media accounts flooded with comments like "Mbappe OUT" and "Fuera (Get out)." It was against this backdrop that the "mbappeout" petition website was launched.
Real Madrid coach Álvaro Arbeloa's public remarks further pushed Mbappé to the forefront. He stated at a press conference: “We didn't build Real Madrid with players who take the field in tuxedos, but with players whose jerseys are soaked in sweat at the end of matches, who give their efforts and make sacrifices.”
Then, this staunch Madridista added: "It pains me when I see other teams running harder than us. Talent alone is not enough. This is Real Madrid, and players must understand what Real Madrid is."
He never mentioned Mbappé by name. But every word he spoke precisely targeted the French forward.
Revisiting Enrique's Words
Now, let's return to the quote from Enrique at the beginning of this article. Although there were many different interpretations at the time, everyone believed that Enrique was not denying Mbappé's individual ability, but rather emphasizing his team-building philosophy: he wanted to create a team that would no longer be held hostage by any superstar, but would rely on collective strength to win matches.
And now, he has truly achieved this.
Today's Paris has a multi-scoring attacking trident in Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé, and Doue, who can not only score goals but also organize attacks for the team. Meanwhile, midfielders Vitinha and Joao Neves also possess attacking organization capabilities. Enrique has used the collective strength of five attacking players in the front line to prove that the direction he has persisted in is correct.
The two-legged Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich this season is a masterpiece of Enrique's "de-starization" approach at Paris: scoring 5 goals in the first leg at home, then in the second leg in Munich, Kvaratskhelia assisted Dembélé just 3 minutes into the match, and the entire team then held off Bayern's comeback to maintain the 6-5 aggregate score until the final whistle.
Now, we can fully understand Enrique's words. He was simply stating a common sense that should be universally accepted in the football world: an individual's potential cannot exceed the boundaries of the team system. This is not a mathematical game, but an eternal truth in football.
It is precisely through this stark contrast that Mbappé's awkward situation at Real Madrid has made him the quintessential "system player." After all, isn't a system player one who requires the entire team to revolve around him to perform at his best, and who throws the entire team off balance once he leaves his "greenhouse"?
Paris has proven with a Champions League title and consecutive appearances in the final that even without the player who was once deified, the team will not collapse but become healthier and more resilient.
Two seasons after Mbappé left, Paris has reached the Champions League final for two consecutive seasons.
Two seasons after Mbappé joined Real Madrid, the club is facing two consecutive seasons without any major trophies.
The Predicament of a “Ligue 1 Exclusive Superstar”
Finally, we should seriously discuss the topic of “system players.”
In the past, this term was used to describe players who relied entirely on tactical arrangements and teammate support to accumulate statistics. But Mbappé's experience has given "system player" a deeper meaning: a player who needs to rely on a specific system to survive – not just a specific tactical system, but an all-encompassing "greenhouse" built and tailored specifically for him.
Mbappé's talent is undeniable. His speed, explosive power, and goal-scoring instinct remain world-class under specific conditions. But the problem is that all these advantages are unconditionally dependent on the specific environment tailored for him: everyone making space for him, and all offensive plays naturally ending with him. Once Mbappé leaves this system, when defense becomes a mandatory task, when he needs to coexist with another star of equal ability, and when team victory takes precedence over individual success, those once-proud labels are stripped away one by one, reducing him to a "spoiled child" who disrupts team balance.
Therefore, when we look back at Mbappé's predicament at Real Madrid, everything becomes clear.
It is not that Real Madrid is unworthy of Mbappé, but that Mbappé is unworthy of Real Madrid. He only deserves to shine in the "greenhouse" tailored for him in Ligue 1.
Mbappé received unprecedented respect and preferential treatment at Paris, where he was spoiled into a "custom-made superstar" who cannot function properly outside of that specific environment.
When the aura of "Kylian Saint-Germain" is shattered by the cold boos at the Santiago Bernabéu, Mbappé has become the latest synonym for a "system player."