Arriving at Real Madrid this summer from Paris Saint-Germain, Kylian Mbappé is going through a difficult period of adaptation in Spain. For the German media South German ZeitungMadrid legend Jorge Valdano tried to analyze this situation. The former player and sporting director of the club believes that the French striker is suffering from culture shock.
“ Mbappé left his country, France, for the first time, which took him sociologically out of his comfort zone. This may have led him to a process of anxiety, and anxiety is the great enemy of the footballer ” said Valdano.
“Football, a stronger cultural weight in Spain”
According to Valdano, the low cultural weight of football in France could explain these difficulties. “ In France, football does not have as much cultural importance as here in Spain », he said, citing as an example the DAZN channel which only has 100,000 to 200,000 subscribers in France, compared to the media omnipresence of Real Madrid.
The former sports director also criticized modern football, which he considers more academic and physical: “ This is what Kylian Mbappé and especially Erling Haaland embody. Almost robotic figures that mark a new direction. »
