Football fans in Spain were left stunned on Thursday by the sensational report in sports daily Mundo Deportivo that Real Madrid had withdrawn from the race to sign long-term transfer target Kylian Mbappe, with the Paris Saint-Germain star now close to joining the bitter Spanish league. . Rivals Barcelona in the summer instead.
The story is titled “A radical shift: Mbappe is approaching Barcelona“That will be hard for Madrid fans to believe. Meanwhile, Barcelona followers would have found the news that the club has selected him as a world-class signing to celebrate its 125th anniversary next year too good to be true.
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According to the Catalonia-based newspaper, Barcelona are prepared to use the €1 billion the club is set to receive as a founding member of the European Premier League to lure Mbappé to Camp Nou in a plan dubbed “Operation Donatello.” This nickname is a reference to the nickname that his Paris Saint-Germain teammates supposedly gave the French striker, due to his clear resemblance to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character.
😲 Radical Giroud: Mbappé joins Barcelonahttps://t.co/iW6SYtCp8x
– Mundo Deportivo (@mundodeportivo) December 28, 2023
A few weeks ago, according to the report, Barcelona president Joan Laporta and his Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Pérez held a secret meeting and reached an agreement. As part of the agreement, Barcelona will offer its unconditional support to Perez in relation to the Premier League breakaway project, and in return Real Madrid will not only withdraw their interest in Mbappe, but also recommend that the 25-year-old’s entourage sign with Barcelona. The only condition imposed by Perez in that match is that Mbappe will not be able to use his stronger right foot when he plays against Real Madrid in… El Clasico.
Mundo Deportivo also wrote that former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique, now in charge at Paris Saint-Germain, also recommended Mbappe to join Barcelona because the local media is very friendly. Furthermore, Mbappe will have no problem settling in as his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate, Ousmane Dembélé, is willing to lend him his home in the city and let him play his collection of video games. Another plus of Mbappé’s move to Barcelona is that the player will receive a lifetime subscription to Spotify, the striker’s preferred music streaming platform which also sponsors the Catalan club.
For anyone in Spain reading these details and feeling a little skeptical, one look at the calendar will confirm that this is not a story to be taken seriously. This is because December 28 is “El dia de los innocentes“(Holy Innocents Day) is basically the equivalent of April Fools’ Day in most parts of the Spanish-speaking world – a day to enjoy the simple joys of pranks, jokes and sarcasm. The folks at newspaper Mundo Deportivo’s sports desk decided to run this story, which has no doubt sparked some pulsations among their readers.
They did something very similar two years ago, when it was reported that Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo was so desperate to finish his second spell at Manchester United and return to La Liga that he secretly offered his services to Barcelona. However, if Mundo Deportivo had reported at the time that Ronaldo would be playing in Saudi Arabia in just over a year, it would have been easy to dismiss that as fake news as well.
⚠ ¡Cristiano Ronaldo will lead Barcelona!
👉 The Portuguese do not like Manchester and contacted Xavi through Pique, while Jorge Mendes was negotiating with Laporta. pic.twitter.com/fnYuwYPZlt
– Mundo Deportivo (@mundodeportivo) December 28, 2021
In 2020, fans of Leganes, a second-tier club in Spain, woke up to news that their giant cucumber-shaped mascot “Super Pepino” was leaving after their “release clause” was triggered by an unnamed LaLiga club.
💰 CLAUSULAZO The CD starts with ‘Super Pepino’
🤷♂️ You will not know the identity of the club that deposited the amount in its offices @LaLiga
😒 CD Leganés can’t get another weapon back soon. temporada
All the details 👇 pic.twitter.com/xi4ZlxlsIw
— CD Leganes (@CDLEganes) December 28, 2020
The trick was a not-so-subtle reference to the controversial departure of Martin Braithwaite, who was allowed to join Barcelona in an emergency move in February of 2020, leaving Leganes unable to sign a replacement as they headed towards relegation.
🤝 Official announcement: The agreement with @Manchester city On a loan @Martinho98 #Ourera Real ⬇https://t.co/6AJrVNfOic
– Real Sociedad 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 (@RealSociedadEN) December 28, 2019
While in 2019 it was the most prominent inocentada Manchester City fans were led to read the shock announcement in an official statement from Real Sociedad that their club had signed Martin Odegaard on loan, even though the Norwegian midfielder was already on loan. No real On loan from Real Madrid at the time.
A club statement said: “We are forced to make this difficult decision to avoid potential media comments for the next six months,” before abandoning the match by adding: “What a relief!”
