Kylian Mbappé on Champions League Dreams, P.S.G. Riches and Real Madrid’s Interest

David Jackson, a vice president at EA Sports, was in the meeting. Not many of the athletes he meets, he said, are willing sit through strategy sessions “and then riff on it with us, pointing out various different elements that he might sharpen and change.” Not many, he said, are as farsighted and considered about the choices they make, eager to talk about their “global positioning” and “the permanence” of their public image today, tomorrow and beyond.

When it came to his production company, Mbappé and his partners eventually settled on a vision that will see Zebra Valley produce films that reach beyond soccer. One of the first projects centers on the life of a Syrian refugee. Another film will focus on Aminata Diallo, a player on P.S.G.’s women’s team who was implicated — possibly incorrectly — in an attack on a teammate. A third will focus on Francis Nagannou, considered to be the best African-born mixed martial artist.

To Mbappé, the company is the start of an attempt to create a legacy beyond his sport, a way to be more than “just the guy who shoots the ball and finishes his career and goes to the yacht and takes his money.”

“No, I want to be more than that,” he said. “And sometimes people can think, Yeah, it’s too much, I have to just play football. But I think not. I think the world has changed.”

The Choice

Whatever he does off the field, Mbappé’s status will continue to be defined by his soccer exploits: how he plays and, perhaps just as important, where he plays.

For months this year, it seemed to everyone, Mbappé included, that he would leave Paris for Real Madrid, the club that has had something of a gravitational pull on him since his first visit as a boy. He had told P.S.G. as much last summer, when he ended talks about a new contract, and even EA Sports had planned for his exit this summer; it had prepared the latest version of its record-selling FIFA video game with Mbappé outfitted in Real Madrid’s colors.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/06/sports/soccer/kylian-mbappe-champions-league-psg.html