In the previous part, I spoke of the lack of grey area between Haaland and Mbappe and how numbers of goals seems to be the only basis for comparison and the gap between both players' nations, both those things we essential in creating the rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.
After that, I spoke of stardom, and how both seem to pale in comparison, especially to Cristiano who is easily a phenomenon in social media success. In this post, I will continue by pointing out how the pair's stardom is also heavily effected by the choices they made.
One of the key ingredients in stardom is obviously building a huge fanbase. Mbappe is 24 years old and Haaland will be 23 by the time the season ends. Both have failed to build a huge, well-established fanbase. The reason behind that has to do with the choices the players made so far. Not only that, those choices seem likely to extend for at least a few more years.
Gab Marcotti says in his ESPN report that Haaland's surroundings, his father and the late Mino Raiola insisted on adding a 200 million buyout clause that will be activated in 2024 upon signing for Manchester City. The buyout clause will also be lowered by 25 million between 2024 and 2027.
The only reason that prompted Manchester City to agree to that while breaking their salary ladder was that they'd still make 120 million if someone buys Haaland from them, or 95 million at least. What this means is that Haaland will be playing for his fifth club by the time he is 25 years old.
The reason this matters is that this career pattern makes it very difficult to form a well-established, loyal fan base that would follow the player regardless. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo needed to be in Barcelona and Real Madrid and the clubs' fans and supporters to be the seed for the pair's current huge and loyal following.
As great as Ronaldo is when it comes to social media influence, he wasn't remotely as established and followed until he spent a few years in Real Madrid.
Mbappe, However
While Haaland's case seems a bit cut and dry, you might be thinking that Mbappe's case is different. The Frenchman has dreamed of playing for Real Madrid his entire life, his biggest role models are Cristiano Ronaldo and Zidane. So, at some point, the Frenchman could turn into a new Cristiano Ronaldo when he joins Real Madrid. The situation isn't that simple, because Mbappe dreamed of playing for Real Madrid as a child, but that dream has gotten very complicated ever since.
In a simply wonderful video report by Athletic Interest, we learn that Mbappe's situation isn't as simple as people think.
The reason the dream got more complicated is that Mbappe at 14 years old was definitely not thinking about all the jigsaw puzzle pieces that come with such a move. The simplest of those pieces is image rights.
Diving into Mbappe's failed move to Real Madrid, you will see that Mbappe's hesitation and eventual refusal of Real Madrid weren't only happening thanks to Paris Saint-Germain's huge offer but also has to do hugely with image rights.
Real Madrid has a non-negotiable rule that 50% of the player's image rights revenue goes to the club. This rule is put in place because of the fair assumption that players at Real Madrid would get countless sponsorship offers just because they're at Real Madrid. All previous Real Madrid legends, including Cristiano Ronaldo, had to agree to those terms. Although Cristiano did manage to bring down the percentage with each contract renewal.
Mbappe's situation is different because, yes, after the offer from Paris Saint-Germain alone, Mbappe's mother, Fayza Lamari, simply had a problem with Real Madrid's offer because she saw that Mbappe doesn't need Real Madrid to become the highest paid footballer in the world or get huge sponsorship deals.
What people fail to understand about Mbappe's situation with Real Madrid isn't that he wouldn't make as much money at Real Madrid in comparison to Paris Saint-Germain, but that he would actually be losing money.
Mbappe's sponsorship deals are actually very rare as he's partnered with only four companies that are atop the economical latter, Nike, Hublot, EA Sports, and Oakley. In comparison, Messi is partnered with 14, Cristiano Ronaldo is partnered with 18, and Neymar with 23. Mbappe is the rarest football star to partner with. He is very selective and wants only a few partnerships that pay out a lot.
Considering that, Mbappe would be losing 50% of those rare but huge sponsorships to Real Madrid, and considering how selective and careful he is with his brand, Mbappe would be losing money not just because he wouldn't make as much. Why would Mbappe give up 50% when he could keep all 100%? By the way, the report also shows how Mbappe's value increased 10 times since he was in Monaco.
This put Florentino Perez in a dilemma as he either has to compromise Real Madrid's image in the market as a club that takes 50% of image rights, risk the players demanding the same treatment and either get it or have a level of animosity toward Mbappe, or he simply has to let Mbappe go.
This means that it is very likely that Haaland and Mbappe's next destination won't be the same country, something that is essential to forming a rivalry. Mbappe and Haaland may or may not meet at all unless the UEFA Champions League draw allows it every odd year.
Mbappe said in an interview once that he has planned every move in his life, including going to Monaco despite interest from different top clubs. This makes you feel like you are just watching a TV show as everything seems preplanned, which makes the narrative uninteresting, which leads me to my final point regarding Haaland and Mbappe's stardom.
Narratives
Mbappe and Haaland's stories aren't as narratively gripping as Cristiano's journey of living away from his struggling family, or Messi's rare disease, leaving his country and family to live only with his father abroad.
Narratively speaking, Haaland's story is bland. He is the son of an ex-player, grew up rich, and didn't really have a struggle as his talent wasn't questioned growing up. He was always the top player in his teams and everything was done smoothly, there's nothing really to sympathize about with Haaland's story.
Mbappe did grow up a poor kid in a family of immigrants living in a poor neighbourhood and had certain struggles that would have made his story comparable to that of Messi and Cristiano, but his move to Paris Saint-Germain really hurts that narrative. There's a certain impression about Mbappe being a greedy person caring only about money. It's an unfair perception as no player really isn't looking at money, but that's the media and Twitter for you.
When you can't get interesting eyes with your background story, similar to Messi and Cristiano, then can't really establish a fanbase, a diehard, huge fanbase willing to enter fights in your name on Twitter like that of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. A fanbase that will glorify your performance and form and come up with reasons for you to be the best and be deserving of winning everything everywhere all at once. When that can't happen, you may not have enough support to win Ballon d'Or as Messi and Cristiano had, but more on that in the next and final post of this series.
Sources
How Cristiano Ronaldo’s brand partnerships influence customers - NewsWhip
'The Ronaldo Effect' - Can the CR7 brand stay relevant enough to help Saudi Arabia secure the 2030 World Cup? - Goal
Haaland is not rude or arrogant – just ask the man who did ‘that’ interview - The Athletic
How Haaland and Mbappe are using leverage in ways Messi and Ronaldo never did - ESPN
The Controversial Business of Kylian Mbappé - Athletic Interest
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"...everything everywhere all at once." This got me cracking.
Definitely tuned for the final post of the series.
I've always wondered where the next football rivalry will come from as the proposed Mbappe-Haaland stuff is just not working. We may start talking about rivalry if Mbappe joins a Premier League team that directly challenges City's Haaland, or if both of them move to the godfathers of football rivalry, Madrid and Barca.
Exactly. I have been struggling to explain to some people that I don't mean Haaland or Mbappe won't be individually as big as Messi or Cristiano but rather they won't have a rivalry that would match the latter. Players' rivalries are formed when there are entities bigger than the players fighting. There's a reason we never looked at Suarez, Lewandowski, and Ibrahimovic as rivals.
Those three strikers were never in a consistent, direct competition at the same time. They had no reason to face each other at least twice in a season. You are definitely right.
Even Neymar was talked about regularly at Barcelona. Immediately he moved to PSG in a league where no one was actually competing with him, the dude became a somewhat forgotten man.
Yeah, I remember a period where the Cristiano/Messi fight elevated to be MSN vs BBC.
I never thought of it until you said it, but there was a three years period where I only saw Neymar once, and he was only in the stance during the PSG vs United match.
Didn't know that about Mbappe, good for him.
The moment I found that video explaining his business I was astonished. The Athletic Interest YT channel is just different and I have been addicted to it.
Mbappe's work ethic is the major problem.
How so?
The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry has really raised the bar when it comes to star players rivalry. I really do not see both Halland and Mbappe filling those big shoes at least for now but I'm quite certain they will both do anything and everything to continue putting their images on the world map . They're both young and they both have great playing careers ahead of them, but will they give we the fans the rivalry we so desire ? Only time can tell!
Well said. Mbappe and Haaland definitely have a lot of work to do to build a legacy but their mentality to do so is unquestionable. It's also understated how lucky Messi and Cristiano also were in terms of their teammates, coaches, and environment.