Tales of yore will tell of the plot twists in this Mbappé to Real Madrid saga

A ccording to the established scriptwriting lore there are only seven types of story. Three of those are: the quest, the tragedy, the voyage and return. These are the archetypes that have sustained the human desire for narrative, from myth and folk tales to the plots of Hollywood blockbusters.

Look a little closer, of course, and this orthodoxy has exploded in the past few years. To these seven storytelling tropes must be added an eighth, a story so grand, so relentless that the other seven are, with apologies to overcoming the monster and rags to riches, starting to look a little thin.

Welcome to the latest instalment of Kylian Mbappé possibly moving to Real Madrid, the greatest football transfer story ever told, a saga that seems to find new layers of richness and texture with each retelling.

The latest update from the Mbappé-verse kicked off on Monday with news that a letter had been delivered to Paris Saint-Germain’s offices stating that the club’s star asset would not be taking up the option to extend his contract. This leaves the club with three options: stand idle as Mbappé leaves for free in a year’s time; offer a new and ever more ludicrous deal; or put him up for sale in this summer. The first two aren’t really viable options. The third now looks the most likely.

Just an everyday tale of superstar footballing folk, you might think. But like any bardic story cycle it is the richness of the detail that matters. Mbappé’s letter follows last summer’s renegotiation whereby he was offered profound and frankly quite weird levels of influence in club affairs. This was followed by what Mbappé historians are calling The October Crisis, when that promised new status turned out to be a disappointment and the Mbappé