Real Madrid are set to complete the signing of striker Kylian Mbappe this month as they smash their club transfer record.
The Spanish giants were unsuccessful in their first bid of €160million (£137m) for the striker earlier this week but are confident of securing the deal with a second approach.
This would be an extraordinary deal in any context but particularly so by the fact that the Frenchman is out of contract next year - when Madrid would be able to sign him as a free agent.
It is claimed that Madrid will be able to land the striker in a €170million deal plus a further €10m in add-ons in a deal that they have long been planning to complete.
Mbappe is a boyhood fan of Los Blancos and has long held a desire to join the club, with his childhood idol being the club’s iconic midfield maestro Zinedine Zidane.
Zidane - who led France to the World Cup trophy prior to Mbappe’s birth - is held in great esteem for Mbappe, who grew up in awe of his majestic skills whilst playing for Madrid and France.
Perhaps one of the more surprising aspects of the striker’s switch to the Spanish capital is that it comes just months after Zidane walked away from the managerial role at the club.
The two have long spoken of their great mutual admiration of each other, yet their paths will not cross at Real Madrid - with Zidane replaced at the helm by the returning Carlo Ancelotti this summer.
A report in Diario AS outlines that Real Madrid’s plan is to hand Mbappe the number 5 shirt at the club - made iconic by Zidane in the early 2000s.
The number is currently held by central defender Jesus Vallejo, who has returned to the club from various loan spells away and is unlikely to be a regular first-team starter this campaign.
Real Madrid plan to ask the defender to relinquish the shirt but if that cannot be done for this year, Mbappe could take the free number 19 shirt and inherit the number 5 kit in future seasons.
The 22-year-old’s admiration for Zidane is well documented and Mbappe has spoken of a memorable moment from his teenage years when he met the former midfielder.
The following section of text was taken from Mbappe’s piece on The Players’ Tribune, entitled “A Letter to the Young Kylians.”
"Then, right before my 14th birthday, I got an incredible surprise. My father received a call from someone at Real Madrid, inviting me to come to Spain for a training session over the holiday break. It was a shock, because they actually told my father, “ Zidane would like to see your son.” At the time, Zizou was the sporting director. Of course, I was over the moon. I was desperate to go."
“But it was not so simple, actually, because scouts were starting to come to our matches, and I was getting some attention from the media. When you’re 13 years old, you don’t know how to handle it. There was a lot of pressure, and my family wanted to protect me.
"But it was actually my 14th birthday that week, and what I didn’t know is that my parents were organizing everything with the club so that they could take me to Madrid as a present."
"Quite a surprise for me!"
"And believe it or not, we didn’t tell anyone where we were going. I didn’t even tell my closest friends, because I was too nervous. If things didn’t go well, I didn’t want to come back to my neighborhood and disappoint them."
"I will never forget the moment that we arrived at the training center from the airport. Zidane met us in the parking lot by his car, and it was a really nice car, of course. We said hello, and then he offered to drive me over to the field for training. He was pointing at the front seat, like, “Go on, get in.”"
"But I just froze and I asked,“Should I take off my shoes?”"