Can we acknowledge the problem with Mbappé or we need another two trophyless seasons?
I am not gonna ask others to perform a tactical analysis of Mbappé's effect on the team. I believe if someone has not been able to see it by now... well, it's hardly gonna change.
But please, just try to search for the pattern. Do you not find it a bit weird how Mbappé leaves PSG, after years where the team seems dysfunctional, good for sure, but lacking the consistency, the final click for them to win the UCL... and they mmediately win it? And, at the same time, Mbappé joins a young Real Madrid that has just won a league + Champions League double, with only TWO defeats in the whole season despite the many injuries, with a Barça that is broke... and the team losses all important trophies next season? Getting manhandled in every Clásico? Humiliated by an Arsenal team with Merino upfront?
Now, of course, this is something that can happen: after all, PSG were close to reaching the UCL final with Mbappé on his last year, and went out after missing chance after chance against BVB; at the same time, it iisnt unheard of that a team wins the Champions League and then dips the season after; it has happened to Madrid before.
But fast forward to the next season... and it's still the same. PSG are looking like the current favourites to win the UCL again and Madrid are more than likely losing the last chance of silverware on Wednesday. This despite spending quite a lot in the Summer to adress some of the team's problems and the fact that the supposedly best player in the world is on his second season in Spain, already acclimatized to the country and the team.
And the best thing is that this pattern repeats inside the season itself. The team was playing some of its best football in the whole year, it had deservedly knocked out City despite the many injuries and convincingly won the derby against Atlético. But the turtle is back and all of a sudden... horrible game against Mallorca, very shaky game against Bayern and again a bad performance against Girona.
The best way to judge his negative impact is watching the games. But just a quick look at the results allows us to establish a very clear ccause effect relationship. How many more seasons like this are needed to see it?