Real Madrid had been waiting for Kylian Mbappe for two years. Tic followed tac, followed tic, followed tac. And then, on August 14, 2023, a deafening silence heard all around the world. Even the Madrid cheerleaders on El Chiringuito stopped their infamous countdown. "A historic moment," they called it with characteristic bombast. "It's OVER!"
It wasn't, of course. Nobody thought that for a second - not even Mbappe's employers at Parc des Princes. Paris Saint-Germain knew as well as anyone that the speculation surrounding their star player's future would continue unabated, because the move to Madrid had merely been postponed - not abandoned.
And so here we are, with Mbappe's arrival at Santiago Bernabeu now confirmed and official. The most painfully protracted transfer saga in football history is finally at its end.