Real Madrid have a huge concert-style set-up arranged to unveil Kylian Mbappe as their big summer signing that includes pyrotechnics, live music and panoramic cameras at the Bernabeu.
Mbappe will be revealed to up to 80,000 fans in Madrid later this month, with his official unveiling to fans being delayed by the forward’s involvement as part of the France squad at Euro 2024.
The new arrival from Paris Saint-Germain is set to take to the stage on Tuesday 16th July to, as is custom, wave and say 'hola' while fireworks go off. More power to your elbow if that’s something you actually want to pay money for, we guess.
We Went To America's Craziest Derby - On The Ground With New York City FC
Real Madrid's incredible stage setup for decadent Kylian Mbappe celebration revealed
The Madrid Zone shared a floorplan and other conceptual images for the event, which will be shot on 360-degree cameras to be broadcast on the big screen, being that the whole thing is basically just a footballer wandering about in a football kit and may not be great value from the nosebleed seats otherwise.
The WWE-esque presentation suggests a large L-shaped walkway will lead out of the tunnel and to a stage at one goal end of the stadium. Mbappe will make the walk while jets of flames shoot up from the sides of the stage before he is finally greeted at the end of the walk by club president Florentino Perez and honorary president Pirri.
This kind of silliness is not unheard of at Real Madrid, who have given similar welcomes to previous stars including Cristiano Ronaldo.
Like Ronaldo did, Mbappe will wear the no. 9 shirt at Real Madrid after arriving as a free agent on eye-watering wages and for an extremely hefty signing-on fee.
His deal at PSG lapsed at the end of June and he had opted not to sign a new deal, with Real effectively paying what they might have done in a transfer fee directly to Mbappe… after his agent’s no-doubt extremely lucrative cut, of course.
Mbappe scored 256 goals in 308 appearances for PSG after arriving from Monaco in 2017.
More Kylian Mbappe stories
Quiz! How much do you really know about Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe?
The BBC have made an Mbappe-related tweak to their Euro 2024 intro video
Revealed: Why Kylian Mbappe celebrated in Jan Vertonghen’s face after France v Belgium own goal
