Nicknames, BBQs, unity: what Mbappe can expect from Madrid’s dressing room
The long-awaited arrival of Kylian Mbappé by Real Madrid offers the reigning Spanish and European champions a lot of potential, but there are also question marks.
One is how Mbappe will fit into the starting lineup, given his preferred position is on the left flank, where Vinicius Junior, last season’s top scorer with 24 goals, plays. The other is how the 25-year-old Frenchman will fit into an established dressing room – an aspect the La Liga club looked at in January when they began seriously considering signing him.
The Athletics has previously detailed how head coach Carlo Ancelotti plans to use a flexible 4-3-3 system, with Mbappe playing through the middle, Vinicius Jr on the left and Rodrygo on the right. This will become a 4-4-2 in defence, with Mbappe and Vinicius Jr as the front two and Jude Bellingham moving into left midfield.
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That leaves the question of personality. Madrid did not want Mbappe to have the same power he had at his previous club, Paris Saint-Germain, after he extended his contract there in 2022. They also feared that an excessively high salary would raise suspicions among a harmonious group of players. Reports suggested that Mbappe would receive a signing bonus of around €100 million ($109 million; £84 million) and then a salary of €15 million.
This current group of Madrid players is seen as one of the tightest in recent years. Sources close to the dressing room — who, like all others mentioned in this article, wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships — have said that the atmosphere is the best they have ever experienced and acknowledge that they have not felt this way in previous years.
That was something recently retired Toni Kroos was referring to when asked at an event last week if he would keep in touch with his former Real Madrid teammates.
“Yes, I have a personal relationship with many of them,” the German midfielder said. “Last season was not only very successful, but we also had a top dressing room — I can’t say the same for every team I’ve played for. They’re people I want to stay in touch with.”
Mbappe was introduced to much fanfare last week (Alvaro Medranda/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
There were already signs of this during the players’ summer vacation.
As he did in 2023, Vinicius Jr. invited a selection of his club teammates to his home city of Rio de Janeiro following Brazil’s Copa America quarter-final elimination to Uruguay this month. Many were unable to attend due to family commitments or scheduling issues surrounding international tournaments, but Eduardo Camavinga, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao and Rodrygo did make the trip.
The players attended a charity event for the winger’s foundation, the Instituto Vini Jr — into which he has invested €1.3 million over the past year to help more than 3,500 children — and enjoyed a few days of rest, partying and playing soccer against each other. They were joined by people from their entourages and other well-known figures from the world of sport and beyond, including Boston Celtics NBA star Jaylen Brown and singers Ozuna, Rauw Alejandro and Ludmilla.
Mbappe was among those invited, along with Vinicius Jr’s compatriot, friend and current Madrid team-mate Endrick. But both were due to be officially unveiled at the club’s home stadium of the Santiago Bernabeu following their respective appearances in the European Championship and Copa America – Mbappe was unveiled last Tuesday; Endrick will be this Saturday – and had to sort out the logistics of their new lives in Spain.
During his opening press conference, Mbappe confirmed that Vinicius Jr. had played a role in his eventual move to Madrid, and was asked which players had spoken to him about the club before his arrival from PSG.
“I had all the French players, who always told me and explained that it was the best (club) in the world,” Mbappe said. “And Vinicius, who asked me to come, and told me that we would play together in attack. Thanks to them, because it is always good that they want me to play with them.”
Mbappe with his current Madrid teammates Camavinga and Tchouameni during training in France (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
Several players have openly expressed their support for Mbappé’s arrival, either implicitly or explicitly, before it was made official.
When rumours linked Madrid with the move last year, Rodrygo posted a picture of himself partying with Mbappe in August. And once the deal was announced, there was a huge reaction on social media from the entire squad.
Sources at Valdebebas, Madrid’s training ground, said Mbappe had made a good impression, describing him as “intelligent” and “cheerful”. The club offered him lower terms this time around than those in their failed 2022 offer, though his basic salary remains among the highest in the squad (and with his signing bonus included, he is by far their highest-paid player).
Mbappe sounded the right note in his first press conference, saying he would play wherever Ancelotti asked him to and that he had no intention of wearing the number 10 shirt that Luka Modric has worn for the past seven seasons, out of respect for the Croatian midfielder who has been with the team for a long time (he will wear number 9).
So there are good signs, and it is worth looking at what happened when Bellingham, another great personality, left for Madrid last year.
It was initially suggested that Bellingham and Vinicius Jr did not get along, but that was soon proven wrong. They would sometimes take the same car to training and Vinicius Jr celebrated some of his goals by mimicking the Englishman’s ‘open arms’ celebration. When Bellingham was interviewed by the club’s official TV channel during Madrid’s La Liga title celebration in May, he said: “I’m here, with the best player in the world” as he embraced Vinicius Jr.
The Brazilian called Bellingham ‘Belligol’ in that interview, one of the many nicknames used by the squad.
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is 200cm tall and is therefore known as ‘Jirafa’ (Giraffe), Antonio Rudiger is ‘Loco’ (Crazy), David Alaba is ‘Alabama’, Ferland Mendy is ‘General’, Eduardo Camavinga is ‘Pantera’ (Panther), Federico Valverde is ‘Halcon’ (Hawk), ‘Gaucho’ (the cowboy-like horsemen who are a folk symbol in his native Uruguay) or ‘Bombazo’ (Bombshell — for the power of his shots), while Arda Guler is ‘Abi’ (‘older brother’ in the language of his Turkish homeland). Players regularly use these nicknames on social media, evidence of the positive atmosphere in the dressing room.
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That was helped last season by the club’s mix of young players and veterans such as Nacho, Kroos and Joselu — all of whom left the club this summer. But other experienced players such as Modric, 38, and Lucas Vazquez, 33, remain after extending their contracts for another year.
The club staff played an important role in creating that harmony.
Last summer, influential chief scout Juni Calafat took new signings Bellingham and Guler, as well as Brahim Diaz (who had returned from a three-year loan at AC Milan), out for dinner at a well-known restaurant in central Madrid. Guler then hosted a barbecue at his home after the crucial La Liga win over Barcelona in April, which was attended by Brahim, Valverde and staff.
The players have a great connection with Ancelotti and the other coaches. Carlo’s son and assistant Davide is key, as he is closer to the players at 35 and speaks several languages.
Carlo and Davide Ancelotti have a good relationship with the players (Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
They also have a good relationship with doctors, physiotherapists and coaches. This was demonstrated when physiotherapist Jaime Salom insisted on being present at the Bernabeu in March for Militao’s comeback from a serious knee injury against Athletic Bilbao, despite the death of his mother that week. Rodrygo dedicated a goal to Salom in that match.
“These kinds of details are usually given privately and you often can’t see them, but they are very important,” a source at Valdebebas said at the time.
The whole thing paints a picture of a united dressing room, ready to welcome another star player in Mbappé.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
