Real Madrid to Focus on Kylian Mbappé instead of Neymar, Says Spanish Newspaper

By Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Neymar’s recent problems seem to be already reflected in the marketplace.

Involved in a sad accusation of rape, and trying to recover from another mediocre season with Paris Saint-Germain, the Brazilian striker is no longer seen as a priority by Real Madrid.

According to information of the Spanish daily ‘AS’, on Tuesday, June 4th, the Madrid club gave up on the Brazilian and will focus its efforts on a teammate of Neymar, Frenchman Kylian Mbappé.

According to the publication, the club admires Neymar’s soccer. However, the owners of the team no longer list the striker among their favorites, because they fear for his ability to adapt to the team due to his possible involvement in controversies.

The newspaper goes on to report that Wagner Ribeiro, the agent who has the trust of both Neymar Sr. and Neymar Jr., was in Madrid three weeks ago for a meeting with Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid.

The path to a possible agreement between the parties had been initiated, but the recent scandal involving Neymar made the Spanish club lose interest.

With that, the attention of Real Madrid returned, very quickly, to the Belgian Eden Hazard, who just announced that he would leave Chelsea, and onto the Frenchman Ferland Mendy, a defender from Lyon. Next, the 13-time European championship team hopes to get a shot at Kylian Mbappé of PSG.

Diario AS is a Spanish daily sports newspaper, concentrating particularly on football. The publication is part of PRISA which also owns El País and Cinco Días.