Casemiro reveals role he played in Kylian Mbappe's Real Madrid transfer | OneFootball

Casemiro has revealed the role that he played in Kylian Mbappe's eventual transfer to Real Madrid, having been bowled over by the French forward during an encounter more than two years earlier.

Mbappe has hit his stride for Madrid since the turn of the calendar year, admitting that he hit a "rock bottom" moment with a penalty miss in December. The 25-year-old has racked up 25 goals across all competitions and looks well on course to better Cristiano Ronaldo's debut tally (33) in 2009/10.

As a Real Madrid player, Casemiro faced Mbappe a handful of times in encounters with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. The first was over a two-legged last 16 tie in 2018 when Mbappe was still a teenager. The next came in the spring of 2022 when the Frenchman scored in a 1-0 PSG win in Paris and was on the cusp of becoming arguably the best player in the world.

"I'll tell you one thing. Mbappe is an unstoppable player," Casemiro said to AS.

Looking back on the 2022 meeting, the Brazilian recalled: "He did everything to us. We lost 1-0 with a goal from him, but it was crazy. He's the kind of player who will go down in football history. We can't ask him to always score a 9. But he never goes below 7.5 or 8. He's spoiled us."

Mbappe played Real Madrid off the pitch in 2022 / Soccrates Images/GettyImages

Casemiro then confirmed a story that he had subsequently approached Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, urging the club to get Mbappe on board.

“Afterwards I spoke to the president and I told him: 'Sign him. It's impossible to stop him.' He's one of those players that when you play against them you don’t know how to stop him," the veteran said.

"He's not on the podium yet, but he’ll get there. He's the heir to the three greats [Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar], along with Vinicius, who continues to grow and improve in every game, Rodrygo and Fede Valverde, who is a player who leads the team and who can mark an era."

Mbappe famously turned Madrid down in the summer of 2022, instead opting to sign a new contract with PSG instead. But once the player had made his decision to leave Parc des Princes as a free agent at the end of those terms two years later, Madrid was the only possible destination.