France captain Kylian Mbappe and his business partners have been linked with a possible takeover at SM Caen, who have played in the second division in France since being relegated from Ligue 1 at the end of the 2018-19 season.
Rumours about Mbappe’s interest in buying Caen have been on for months.
But Ouest France (via Daily Mail) confirmed this week that Mbappe’s interest is indeed real.
Current Caen co-owner Pierre-Antoine Capton announced back in March that American investment fund Oaktree was planning to withdraw its investment in the club.
Mbappe was first linked with Caen back in 2013 when the Normandy outfit tried to sign him as a teenager.
But he eventually opted to join AS Monaco instead after Caen were relegated.
Laurent Glaize, who was Caen’s head of youth recruitment in 2013, spoke about the failed bid to sign Mbappe in an interview with Maville four years later.
“At first, it was our Parisian network that called us. He assured us that he had seen a phenomenon. We sent our recruitment manager to Paris to see him play at Bondy.
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“He confirmed. Then [youth recruiter] David Lasry went to see him. David didn’t usually get too excited. Then, he called me, he was crazy: ‘”Laurent, I have the future Ballon d’Or in front of me!”
“Kylian was barely 12 years old. Technically, he already knew how to do everything. He had incredible dribbles, and above all he did them quickly. He had the game intelligence of a 15 or 16-year-old guy.
“He was still small and thin obviously, but the potential for athletic development was obvious. In my entire career, frankly, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Mbappe captained France to the semi-final stage of the 2024 European Championship in Germany.
The former Paris Saint-Germain broke his nose in the group stage and had to wear a protective mask.
He will join reigning LaLiga and UEFA Champions League holders Real Madrid this summer.
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