5 tactical implications of Mbappé's move to Real Madrid

Kylian Mbappé's move to Real Madrid has been the worst-kept secret in football for the past two seasons.

The French forward has finally realised his dream of playing for Los Blancos in LaLiga next season, with many tipping this iteration of Carlo Ancelotti's side to become this generation's galacticos.

But his move will not come without sacrifices, with Mbappé locking horns with Luis Enriqué in his final season, with the Spaniard often subbing the French captain off at halftime.

We look at the five tactical implications of Kylian Mbappé's move to Real Madrid, who will have to pave the way to make room for the Frenchman, and whether or not Real Madrid will be a better or worse team with one of the world's best players in the team.

5. Reduction in fatigue for Real Madrid's forwards

Real Madrid have not been blessed in terms of versatility and squad depth this season, with the drop-off in quality from the bench evident with Brahim Diaz, Lucas Vázquez, Joselu, and Arda Güler struggling for starts this season.

Epitomised by Jude Bellingham's fatigue-ridden performance in the Champions League final after a long and arduous season, Real Madrid will benefit greatly from having an increase in quality with both Mbappé and Endrick joining in the summer.

The ability to spread the intensity of the fixture list and workload will prevent injuries and gift Ancelotti more tactical options in-game.

Especially important for this coming season where Real Madrid will be forced to play extra games between 15  June to 13  July 2025 at the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.

4. Defensive vulnerabilities with Mbappé in the Real Madrid side

Mbappé is one of the worst wingers in Europe when it comes to defensive work-rate.

Part of this is naturally driven by the fact that PSG essentially designed a team around him, which has also increased his lack of interest in tracking back and defending.

Luis Enriqué, whose system relies heavily on pressing from the front, was unhappy with Mbappe for his defensive contributions this season.

Despite Enriqué making it clear that Mbappé is now required to track back in his new system, Mbappé simply refused to resulting in early substitutions and the French winger being benched for important Ligue 1 matches

At Real Madrid, Ancelotti will need to design his system around Mbappé's unwillingness to do any defensive work.

Mbappé's defensive stats

Mbappé ranks in the bottom 3% of wingers for tackles, the bottom 1% for tackles won, and the bottom 20% for defensive challenges lost, whilst Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior rank top 40% for the above statistics.

Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo both rank in the top 25% of wingers for tackles won, with Vinicius Junior in the top 10% of wingers for tackles in the defensive third, showing his willingness to track back and help out his left-back.

Including Mbappé in the front line is going to dramatically impact Ancelotti's defensive structure, essentially having one less player in the defensive phase in the match with Mbappé on the field.

3. Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior will be sacrificed to make way for Mbappé

Footballers are human, they thrive from the same emotions as you and I. The idea of being the hero, or being the main man, has propelled players like Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior.

With Kylian Mbappé joining, the attention will be taken away from others on the field, which could harm their performances both mentally and tactically.

Mbappé's former manager, Luis Enriqué, stated that Kylian has no interest in playing as a centre-forward despite excelling there this season in Ligue 1.

With Mbappé demanding to play on the left wing, we will likely see Vinicius Junior move from his preferred position to either play centrally as a striker or replace Rodrgyo on the right wing.

Of course, Ancelotti could convince the French captain to play through the middle, rotating across the front line, but as we've seen for PSG this season, Mbappé prefers to naturally drift and stay on the left wing even when playing as a lone striker.

2. The end of Jude Bellingham, the match-winning goalscorer

With Kylian Mbappé joining, and Toni Kroos retiring from football altogether, Jude Bellingham is expected to have less of a free role in Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid this season.

Jude Bellingham may drop to play alongside Federico Valverde, Luka Modric, Camavinga or Tchouaméni instead of being able to float across the forward line.

However, Ancelotti may make the argument that he can keep the same 4-3-1-2 system, with Bellingham playing in his familiar central Number 10/False 9 position, and simply swapping Rodrygo out with Kylian Mbappé.

Regardless, Bellingham will need to be in and around the action to win the ball back as quickly as possible, to make up for Kylian Mbappé's lack of defensive ability.

1. Real Madrid will score more goals

Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, and Vinicius Junior collectively scored 59 goals in all competitions in the 23/24 season.

Kylian Mbappé alone scored 44 goals last season in just 48 matches, which is over double the individual goals scored by the current Real Madrid trio.

Mbappé is not just a scorer of great goals, he is a great goalscorer of important goals.

With Real Madrid going for their 16th Champions League, and will inevitably want to win their fifth FIFA Club World Cup title after already winning the competition on five occasions.