The cost of Mbappe's dream: PSG make him football's highest earner

Kylian Mbappe's biography states that, when he was a child, he was desperate to play for Real Madrid at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

He had that possibility at his fingertips this summer. He even asked for it to happen last summer, but now he has turned his back on that for a lucrative contract with Paris Saint Germain.

Mbappe said yes to PSG to become the highest-paid athlete in the world.

The signed commitment runs until 2025, in another step calculated to perfection.

He now has three years ahead of him, enough time to become more than just the best footballer on the planet and also a man capable of showering himself in money, the kind that PSG and Qatar have put in place for him to sign the most important contract in the history of football.

Mbappe climbs the rankings of football's top earners

France Football recently drew up a reference list of football's top earners that was headed by Cristiano Ronaldo, with 106m euros gross, followed by Lionel Messi's 94m euros and Neymar's 85m euros.

Mbappe was in fourth place, but light years behind, as before signing the new contract he was on 36.5m euros, an amount that he is going to multiply and multiply a lot.

How Mbappe's move to Real Madrid fell apart

For more than a year he held firm to his promise to play for Real Madrid. The repeated refusals to accept the proposals coming from Qatar made them think it was confirmed.

Mbappe himself was responsible for reassuring the directors of Los Blancos, denying any hint of doubt.

It all fell apart three days after he reiterated that he had said yes and that everything was still on the table. At Real Madrid they began to doubt the moment Mbappe travelled to Qatar in the week that proved definitive.

He travelled there without an agreement, but returned to Paris knowing he was going to become even more of a millionaire and with three more years on his contract.

The image of the player pointing to the Qatar advert on his shirt one of the events was seen as definitive by Madrid officials, although until Saturday morning's message they held out hope of a last-minute change.