‘What a joke!’ – Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon reacts to claims Los Blancos are ready to pay €1BILLION to sign Kylian Mbappe

Sensational reports have claimed Real Madrid are ready to pay €1BILLION to sign Kylian Mbappe, but Ramon Calderon insists it’s got to be a ‘joke’.

The former Real Madrid president laughed off the sensational reports the Spanish giants could obliterate the transfer record to land the France superstar this summer.

Reports in the Italian press claim Los Blancos believe an incredible financial package could be enough to tempt the World Cup hat-trick scorer to ditch Paris Saint-Germain.

Mbappe only signed a new mega-money contract with PSG in May, agreeing an extension that runs until 2025.

However, it is suggested he could be prised away from the Ligue 1 giants if the money is right, with suggestions a financial package worth a total of €1billion – around £877million – over four years would do it.

That deal would break down to about £552m in wages for Mbappe, plus a transfer fee of around £132m, plus commission and signing-on fees – which talkSPORT host Natalie Sawyer blasted as ‘grotesque’.

Despite his fresh terms in Paris, it is widely claimed Real Madrid are refusing to give up their pursuit of Mbappe, who came away from Qatar 2022 with the World Cup Golden Boot with eight goals.

But Calderon insists signing a footballer for €1bn is madness.

Asked about the reports, Calderon told talkSPORT Breakfast: “I think it’s a joke!

“Many newspapers here said in the summer that Kylian Mbappe was coming to Real Madrid, they even said when – the day, the time, the place, the people who will be with him – so you know what happens sometimes with newspapers, they have to cover a lot of pages and a lot of rumours to keep the attention of the readers.

“But I think it’s a joke to say that a club could pay €1bn for one player.

“Mainly because the player still belongs to a club and he said in the summer that he didn’t want to leave.

“So if you ask me about this rumour, I can’t believe it, really.

“Could a football club ever pay €1bn for a player? You know football, never say never… but nowadays I think that would be impossible.

“We saw PSG paying €222m for Neymar which appeared to be an incredible amount of money, and yet they did it. We’ve seen many times amounts being paid that we couldn’t believe before.

“I find that very difficult, I don’t see anyone paying that amount of money nowadays.

“You still have financial fair play, I don’t see anyone able to pay that according to their own numbers.”

While he doubts those figures involved, Calderon would still love to see Mbappe walk out in the all-white of Real Madrid one day – saying the Frenchman reminds him of Bernabeu legend Ronaldo.

“I would like to see Mbappe at Real Madrid,” he added.

“Nobody would say no to a player like him, how he played in Qatar, how he is able to score goals from any position. 

“He reminds me a lot of Ronaldo Nazario, the Brazilian – the same strength, the same way of running, the same ability to score goals.

“It seems difficult, but I wish it will happen.”