Real Madrid striker ‘buys French club Caen for £16.9m’

Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe has agreed a £16.9m deal to become the majority owner of French second-tier side SM Caen, according to a report.

France captain Mbappe will not play domestic football in his homeland for the first time next season after leaving Paris St-Germain for Madrid in June, but the 25-year-old has strengthened his involvement in the French game by becoming the majority shareholder in the Normandy club, Le Parisien has said.

Mbappe will succeed American investment fund Oaktree, which bought 80 per cent of Caen’s shares in 2020, in a deal which will be completed within hours, the outlet added.

SM Caen: Mbappe to take over?

Pierre-Antoine Capton, the chairman of Caen’s supervisory board and the holder of the remainder of the shares, will reportedly be co-owner alongside Mbappe, who is said to be installing Ziad Hammoud, the chief executive of his image company, as president.

Hammoud is the former director of strategy and investments at beIN Media Group, whose owner, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, is the president of PSG.

Caen are known to have closely tracked Mbappe as a child prodigy, approaching him to join them at around the same time as he toured Madrid’s facilities as an 11-year-old.

Le Parisien said Caen’s “charm offensive” had made them Mbappe’s preference at the time, with school support, a three-year trainee contract and a first professional deal said to have been in place.

The Vikings’ relegation from Ligue 1 in 2011/12 is thought to have hindered a deal, although they later returned to the top flight for five seasons until being relegated again in 2019.

The report added that the takeover by Mbappe, whose five-year deal at Madrid is said to be worth around £190m in total, will not create a “revolution” at Caen.

“Given his activity, [he] will, in reality, be very little present in Normandy in the coming years,” Le Parisien said. “[Mbappe will be] keeping the DNA of SM Caen, taking it step by step, without having the delusions of grandeur linked to the identity of its future new owner.”

Mbappe’s mother, Fayza Lamari, said earlier this month that Mbappe was considering investing in Caen, Nimes and non-French clubs.

“Kylian loves football a lot,” she said. “But it’s part of investments, like others. For the moment, there’s not much. We’re prospecting.

“We’re talking to several entities. As soon as it’s Kylian, it takes on another dimension. But Caen is a beautiful region, you know.”

A deal would see Mbappe follow the likes of David Beckham at Inter Miami and Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Hammarby as footballers to have invested in clubs, although it is unusual for an active player to make the move.

Founded in 1913, Caen finished sixth in Ligue 2 last season and are managed by their all-time record appearance holder, Nicolas Seube.