They always wanted this day to come, though not quite on these terms. When Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund took over Newcastle in October 2021 and a world of new possibilities opened up, the ultimate dream was clear.
The statement that Mike Ashley had officially gone was still ringing in the ears and the synapses of geordie fans when the first mock-ups of Kylian Mbappé in the black-and-white stripes started popping up on the social networks. Mostly with a wry smile, but it was an indication of the fact that finally, Newcastle’s fans had the right to dream.
As something only slightly less unlikely than a mega-money move for a planetary superstar, the return of the Champions League to Tyneside less than two years after the change of regime was what eventually brought the man described by his Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique as “clearly the best player in the world” to the north-east of England.
Whatever your views on the morality of the takeover, the new ownership’s sensible, financial fair play-wary running of the club since 2021 always made Mbappé a pipedream, as much as Newcastle having yet to make itself an authentic European giant did.
At least now, way ahead of schedule, those representing the city’s team at this stage of the journey had earned the right to look him in the eye. If Mbappé was able to see St James’ Park at its best, resonating with a white noise uncommon even for here as the Gallowgate lifted the Champions League anthem over its crescendo, then the compliment was not entirely returned. What we saw here was closer to the wan pastiche of the France captain that only scratched the surface of Friday’s goalless draw at Clermont, perhaps still feeling the sore ankle that was the legacy of a hefty challenge from Marseille’s Leonardo Balerdi in Le Classique the previous week, than anywhere near his visceral best.
Fitness has been a shadow hanging over Mbappé’s season. He arrived here in the paradoxical position of having scored eight in seven games but of having frequently looked far from his peak level so far. Three weeks among the lofteurs, the outcasts and unwanted of PSG’s squad, removed from senior training in pre-season during his titanic contract dispute with the club – now punctuated with fragile acquiesce rather than definitive solution – have left him playing catchup. The balance Luis Enrique must find between protecting his star asset, keeping him intact for games of the greatest magnitude, and continuing to coax Mbappé back to optimum fitness, is a precarious one.
With that said, any plans to fully integrate an escalating version of their star into this new, post-Messi and post-Neymar PSG, were hamstrung by the tactical gremlins of a chastening first half. The coach’s decision to break up the Manuel Ugarte, Warren Zaïre-Emery and Vitinha midfield that had gripped Borussia Dortmund so tightly in Paris 15 days ago quickly looked like a lost gamble. Mbappé and the club’s two summer forward purchases, Randal Kolo Muani and Gonçalo Ramos, were left unfed, while Ousmane Dembélé might have been secretly relieved when Dan Burn took a few moments out of wrestling him to head the home side’s second goal.
Having started hanging out on the left of Luis Enrique’s bold front four, Mbappé began dropping deeper to try to take matters into his own hands. A 10th-minute Cruyff turn out of play – that elicited a hearty cheer from the stands – encapsulated much of his first half; stuck on the runway waiting for the go-ahead from air traffic control, not only stranded but short of his usual litheness.
If the biggest red cross on Newcastle’s season so far, the improbable 2-1 defeat here to the 10 men of Liverpool, suggested a team not sure whether its status dictated it should dominate or contain, their run of five straight clean sheets leading into this should have pointed to the fact that ambition doesn’t always have to include expansiveness.
Kieran Trippier and his teammates smartly manoeuvred Mbappé away from doing either. There was the run to the line that ended in Ramos’s shot deflected wide as the first half drew to a close but that proved the exception, rather than the rule. If Bradley Barcola’s introduction brought some energy to the mix, it did little for the team’s totem. The only real legacy of his switch to a more central role in the second half, a position he would perhaps have to apply himself to more at Real Madrid in coexistence with Vinícius Júnior, was a rum clattering by the revitalised Jamaal Lascelles in the centre circle.
Even before Luis Enrique’s previous day nod to being “jealous” of his players getting to play at St James’ Park, as he had once, it is not as if Mbappé, a genuine student of the game, will have been blindsided by Newcastle’s dimensions and fervour. He will too, probably, go to the Bernabéu with few regrets next summer. He may, though, consider that he and his present and future teammates might have a rival of substance to add to the elite European list.
