Kylian Mbappe will face 'more pressure' to perform after Real Madrid move - Steve McManaman

Steve McManaman has told TNT Sports that there will be "pressure" on Kylian Mbappe to perform and win trophies following his long-awaited transfer to Real Madrid.

Mbappe completed his move to the Bernabeu and signed a five-year contract with the club on a free transfer, following his departure from Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the campaign.

The 25-year-old's arrival is an ominous sign for the rest of European football after Madrid clinched a Liga and UEFA Champions League double during the 2023/24 season.

Although Mbappe helped PSG to another Ligue 1 title, his performances in the Champions League were hit-and-miss as he failed to reach his usual heights when the French outfit were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals.

The France international appeared set to join Madrid in 2022 but performed a spectacular U-turn and extended his deal with PSG, which did not go down well with a number of supporters in the Spanish capital.

McManaman believes that Mbappe will need to prove he is the man to deliver on those big Champions League nights to silence the potential doubters.

"There’ll be more pressure on Kylian because they’ve won everything without Kylian," McManaman said. "People might have a shorter temper with him and might give him less time to settle because of what has happened in the past, but Madrid will roll out the red carpet for him.

"It’s been a signing they’ve wanted to make, everybody thinks he is the heir apparent to Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Lionel Messi, but there will be pressure to show it.

"You’ve seen his recent performances for Paris Saint-Germain against Barcelona and I know he scored two goals in the away tie, but the sending off of Ronald Araujo changed the whole game.

"He was not impressive at all in the semi-final [and] his workrate was terrible, to be frank, in those games, and if you’re playing for Real Madrid you have to run around as well as be magical.

"There will be a certain amount of pressure [on Mbappe] because they’ll have Rodrigo, Vinicius, Jude [Bellingham], Endrick and potentially Kylian next year - and five into three doesn’t go. Someone will have to drop out. The pressure is on him but he’s good enough to succeed."

Following Madrid's Champions League win at Wembley, Rio Ferdinand said it is "scary" to imagine the success the club could enjoy with Mbappe's signing, while Bellingham explained how his arrival would take the team to "another level".

Mbappe will join up with his new club after Euro 2024, where Didier Deschamps' side enter the tournament as strong fancies.

The forward has enjoyed a stellar career so far, helping Monaco win the French league title before joining PSG in 2017.

During his time in Paris, Mbappe became the club's all-time top scorer with 256 goals, and won a total of 15 trophies. He also helped France lift the World Cup in 2018 and became the second men's player in history to score a hat-trick in the final in 2022, albeit in defeat to Argentina.

McManaman believes that Mbappe's move to Madrid is the perfect stage for the player to elevate his game even further.

"He’s arguably joining the best team in the world now and he’ll be treated like a god," the pundit explained.

"It’s a move he had to make, as much as the Paris Saint-Germain fans are upset and the president is upset, but I think it’s a choice he had to make. If he wants to be the best player in the world for the next five years, he needs the stage to perform on and I think this is it."

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