14-Year-Old Mbappe Visits Valdebebas With His French Icon Zinedine Zidan
The moment that was much awaited has finally come. The French star Kylian Mbappe has made his arrival at Los Blancos on Tuesday. The forward underwent medical checks and signed his contract at the club’s training ground in Valdebebas. But this wasn’t the first time the player has stepped foot on the historical training ground.
When the young star was just 14 years old, his father received a call from the club inviting the little boy to train with Real Madrid. Making the trip even more fascinating, it was the legendary player Zinedine Zidane himself who had arrived at the airport to pick him up.
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Mbappe once narrated the incident, “My father received a call from someone at Real Madrid, inviting me to come to Spain for a training session over the holiday break. It was a shock, because they actually told my father, “Zidane would like to see your son.” At the time, Zizou was the sporting director. Of course, I was over the moon. I was desperate to go.”
After arriving at the airport, Mbappe met Zidan in the parking lot. When Zidane offered him a drive to the training field, all astonished and stunned, he asked, “Should I take off my shoes?” Zidan burst out in laughter as he found it funny and insisted the young boy be seated in front.
“He drove me to the training pitch, and I was just thinking to myself, I am in Zizou’s car. I am Kylian from Bondy. This is not real. I must still be sleeping on the airplane.
Sometimes, even when you are really living something, it feels like a dream,” Mbappe said while narrating the incident.
His visit to Valdebebas is one of his best memories as a child and that episode was even featured on a comic book released by Mbappe in 2021. Mbappe had described the week he met his football icons Ronaldo and Zidane as the “best weekend of his life”.
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Despite his dream to be part of the club, the only thing that made him hesitate about the decision was his deep feelings towards his homeland. However, after a long wait, the Spanish giant has gotten the man to their ground.
