According to former player Ivan Helguera, buying Kylian Mbappe does not ensure Real becomes an invincible team.
“You have to recognize past mistakes,” Helguera said on DAZN channel on February 21. “Real spent a lot of money and had very good players, but didn’t win any championships during that period.”
According to the Spanish press, Real is likely to sign a contract with Mbappe this coming summer. The Bernabeu team does not have to pay a transfer fee to PSG, but may have to give a bonus of 130 million USD and a salary of 50 million per year to the French player. Mbappe is considered the next star of the new “Good Galaxy”, alongside Jude Bellingham, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Endrick, Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni. The 25-year-old striker holds the record of scoring 244 goals for PSG, winning six Ligue 1, the 2018 World Cup and scoring 12 goals through two World Cups.
According to Helguera, if you buy Mbappe, Real will become a team that is difficult to beat. However, he is also concerned that the old team repeats the mistake of buying too many attacking players like in the early 2000s. “You have to know how to balance the squad,” Helguera added.
The former famous player also admitted that winning every year is very important for Real. And this causes the Madrid giants to constantly look to buy the best players in the world.
Helguera was a member of the Real team that won two Champions Leagues in 2000 and 2002. At that time, President Perez had the habit of buying a top attacking player every year, respectively Luis Figo in 2000, Zinedine Zidane in 2001, Ronaldo De Lima. 2002, David Beckham 2003, Michael Owen 2004 and Robinho 2005. However, investing too much in “Galaxy 1.0” was counterproductive and made the squad unbalanced. From a top team, Real lost its position, went empty-handed for three consecutive seasons and was eliminated in the 1/8 round of the Champions League for six consecutive seasons.
Real is leading La Liga 2023-2024 with a gap of six points. They also have one foot in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, after winning 1-0 at Leipzig’s field in the first leg of the 1/8 round, and crushing Barca 4-1 in the Spanish Super Cup final. The only arena where Real failed this season was the King’s Cup: losing 2-4 to Atletico in the 1/8 round.