Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe has barely left France, after joining Los Blancos once his contract at Paris Saint-Germain expired, but already he is looking to get back involved in French domestic football.
The 25-year-old is set to become the majority shareholder at Ligue 2 side SM Caen, as per Ouest France, and carried by MD. Mbappe will invest just under €20m in order to buy an 80% stake off American investment group Oaktree. Pierre Antoine Capton, the current administrative president, owns the other 20%, and some of Mbappe’s purchase outlay will go into absorbing the debt the club is sporting.
Ziad Hammoud, current head of Mbappe’s brand image team, is set to be installed as the new president by Mbappe and mother Fayza Lamari. The latter nearly negotiated for Mbappe to move to Caen several years ago, but they opted to go to AS Monaco instead.
Mbappe’s investment in Caen is no doubt the next part of his brand, and perhaps it is no surprise that he is following in the footsteps of David Beckham by buying a club. It is hard to remember too many players that have actually taken over a club while still playing, and Mbappe may not have much to do with the running of the day-to-day, but it does show the disparity between football’s elite level and the more middle class of the pyramid.
