Club president offers Arsenal, Liverpool hope of signing exciting 18-year-old striker
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez hands Arsenal and Liverpool a possible transfer boost in the race to sign Kylian Mbappe this summer
Arsenal and Liverpool have received a possible transfer boost after Real Madrid president Florentino Perez admitted that Kylian Mbappe wouldn’t be guaranteed first-team football at The Bernabeu.
The 18-year-old striker’s future has been a source of relentless debate in the summer transfer window so far after the teenager’s excellent breakthrough campaign in France.
Mbappe scored 15 times in 26 games in Ligue 1 to help AS Monaco win the title with a seven-point cushion over their bitter rivals Paris Saint-Germain last term.
The AS Monaco forward scored six goals in nine Champions League appearances to help the French side reach the semi-finals before a 4-2 loss to Serie A giants Juventus over two legs.
Real Madrid were thought to be in pole position to sign Mbappe this summer, although the striker has concerns about his ability to secure regular first-team football at the Spanish club.
Premier League duo Arsenal and Liverpool are rumoured to be heading up Premier League interest in signing the exciting teenager.
However, Real Madrid president Perez has indirectly handed the English duo a boost in the Mbappe race after he admitted the forward wouldn’t be guaranteed a starting spot at the Champions League holders.
“We are in a situation very similar to that of [Paul] Pogba – last year they said that I had to sign him because we had won the Champions League,’ Perez told Spanish radio show El Primer Palo, as quoted by Metro.
“I like him but we can only play 11, the squad is 24 and there are many players that I have liked and, because they have not had a place, they have not come.
“He [Mbappe] is a good player, very young. We did not sign Pogba because we had a great team, as demonstrated. We did not need Pogba.
“In addition, the players have to play to become better and I last year did not see it [playing time] with him. Anyway, the summer is very long, I have signed more than one player on the 31 of August. Some really good ones.”
