Following years of transfer rumours, French football star Kylian Mbappé has agreed to join Spanish superclub Real Madrid. Real Madrid will pay Mbappé $16.2 million per year after taxes for the next five years, in addition to an estimated $163 million guaranteed signing bonus.
This would bring Mbappé’s average annual earnings to just under $50 million. However, this is far less than the one-year, $776 million contract that Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal reportedly offered Mbappé for his services last summer.
Mbappé has already earned approximately $288 million in his career, according to Capology.com estimates. Last summer, Al Hilal reportedly offered $776 million, the largest one-year contract for a professional athlete in history. Many high-profile soccer players have accepted massive payouts to join Saudi Arabia’s top league, the Saudi Pro League, in recent years.
Mbappé acknowledged the move in a post on Instagram (META) on Monday, calling it “a dream come true.” He joins a Real Madrid team that already features a Champions League-winning squad of young stars, including Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo, and Jude Bellingham. Mbappé leaves Paris Saint-Germain as its all-time leading scorer with 256 goals, including a club record 175 in France’s Ligue 1.