Mbappé, Haaland and Spanish arrogance
Florentino Pérez was a trending topic on Twitter on Tuesday night. On Wednesday he came close to returning to the top of conversations on the social network. Mbappé's three goals at Camp Nou and Haaland's two in Sevilla put Real Madrid fans on alert... and the rest of Spain. A popular outcry calling on the president to work the miracle of making these two players shine at the new Bernabéu.
The King Midas of European football is now just a soldier of the club-states that move the football market. Neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona have the solvency to undertake a signing of this level. The salary, the transfer fee, the commissions... make it an unattainable undertaking for teams that are cutting their players' salaries. Barça in the red will sack Messi in June. Real Madrid paying for a stadium and million-dollar wage bill, will get rid of Sergio Ramos in the summer. And those gaps can only be filled by Haaland or Mbapeé. For money and for sporting strategy. The signings of these two players require a profound remodelling of the two big Spanish clubs. A different way of understanding football because neither the Frenchman nor the Englishman would arrive at a winning club where they would have to acclimatise. They would land in teams with more past than present in need of returning to fight for glory in Europe.
Real Madrid planned years ago to put themselves in the hands of Vinicius, Rodrygo or Renier. Promising youngsters who had won nothing and the white shirt weighed tons on them. Zidane did not help inject them with that white DNA and the rest of the teammates had enough to hold a team without direction. Florentino Pérez does not have a sporting helm. He does and undoes as he pleases. Some will say that the four Champions League titles are there and others will say that this season's team is pitiful for its lack of strategy. He signed Hazard because of popular pressure. A millionaire for a proven player. A goalscorer at the top of European football. A jewel to add to a squad full of gems. But there is no craftsman who knows how to manipulate so much quality. Lopetegui, Solari and Zidane have been the latest workers on the bench. Different styles or no style. Players faced with a new command. And Hazard was not being counted on. Then injuries, form, head... everything.
The arrival of Mbappé or Haaland at Real Madrid would have to be accompanied by a thorough reform of the squad and of football. Choose a new coach or free Zidane from the old guard that has put him in debt. Work on a style and insist on it. It is not a question of making an outlay of that calibre to keep the members happy. Or LaLiga, which is terrified that Messi will leave Spain and the product will continue to plummet while the Superliga moves from the bar to the restaurant table.
We can fantasise about Mbapeé's arrival at Barça. Or that Haaland will be the goalscorer for the club for many years to come. The new president will sit down with the banks before he sits down with the staff. He will ask for a loan before looking Messi in the face. And he will get liquidity. If he does not keep Messi, he will have to sign. If he doesn't sign, he will have to explain to the soçi that the future is very uncertain and that they will be happy to lift the Cup of Catalonia, if they win it.
But if the electoral ball hits, the azulgrana machine will be better oiled than that of Real Madrid. The Whites tend to be socially and sportingly conservative. To look askance at what comes from outside. Barça don't. They will integrate whoever arrives and they will be at their beck and call if their Argentine benchmark leaves. Even Griezmann can shine after so many years as a civil servant. But Barcelona's dreams are to have a president and consolidate a survival project. Nothing more.
The current ecosystems of Mbappé and Haaland are perfect. Who knows how they will perform when they leave their clubs and play their goals and dribbles in Spain or England. What we can be sure of is that Real Madrid and Barcelona are not ready to throw the house out of the window because they have to put their own house in order first. Spanish football no longer reigns supreme in Europe.
