Kylian Mbappé has made his first interview since he joined Real Madrid last summer. And his career has been turbulent since then: legal disputes against Paris Saint-Germain about his payments, impopularity in France after apparently skipping one call for the national team (and being excluded from other) and disappointing performance in Real Madrid including two penalty misses.
In the French TV channel Canal+, Mbappé talked about many different topics, including the overload of matches and short vacations, affirming he had been tired and exhausted, but not depressed, as many sites have reported. "People see us like robots, but in reality we are human beings like anyone else".
One of the setbacks Kylian suffered almost involved his 17-year-old brother Ethan, which is what affected him the most.
Kylian Mbappé almost stayed at PSG to protect his younger brother
He joined PSG alongside Kylian in 2017, and after playing on the youth team, Ethan made his debut at the main team in 2023.
But as a form of pressure against Kylian for him to stay in Paris and not sign with Real Madrid, the PSG leader from Qatar reportedly ordered coach Luis Enrique to bench Ethan, as per L'Equippe.
Kylian's dream was to play at Real Madrid, but he considered giving up on that dream and stay at PSG if him leaving meant Ethan would be ostracized at PSG. "His Real Madrid was PSG. What Real meant to me, his childhood dream was PSG. I was the one that took that away for him", Kylian said.
"At one point I said to him that 'if you want to stay, I'll renew and we stay for a while'. I would have given up my dream in Madrid for him. Ethan is my brother and nobody can't touch him. What is the point of signing for the best club in the world if that means ending your brother career?".
But Kylian adds that it was Ethan who convinced him of moving, "Ethan told me... 'I don't want to stay here. What they did to you, what they did to me, it's not normal".
So in the end Kylian fulfilled his dream of playing with Real Madrid, and Ethan stayed in France, but moved to a different team, Lille, where he has a contract until 2027. Sadly, due to an injury, Ethan has barely played three matches this season, and will be out until 2025.