{"id":1238350,"date":"2021-12-16T17:34:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T17:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1238350"},"modified":"2021-12-16T17:34:46","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T17:34:46","slug":"kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Kylian Mbappe talks up &#8216;friendship&#8217; with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming, off-the-pitch friendship with the Real Madrid forward.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old World Cup winner has been heavily linked with a move to the Bernabeu in the summer when his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires, and comments like his latest will only fan the flames of that possibility becoming a reality.<\/p>\n<p><em>Los Blancos<\/em> attempted to fast-track the process in the summer just gone but saw their advances rejected by the Parisians, who now face the prospect of losing one of football&#8217;s best current stars for nothing at the end of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What is an Enganche? Best players, roles and tactics explained using Football Manager | FM22\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5I8tOr0BMOM?start=10&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Mbappe, who joined PSG permanently from Monaco for \u00a3163m in 2018, becoming the second-most expensive player in the history of the sport after current team-mate Neymar (who joined for \u00a3198m from Barcelona in 2017), can sign a <span>pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs\u00a0from January 1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It could make for an interesting January transfer window, with PSG no doubt desperate to avoid losing their most-cherished asset for free come July, which may tempt them to cash in for a reduced fee next month if Real stump up a reasonable figure.<\/p>\n<p>With the prospect of a <span>pre-contract agreement materialising in just a few weeks, Mbappe has been adding fuel to the fire by talking up his relationship with Benzema, whom he stars alongside at international level under Didier Deschamps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a lot easier to create a connection with someone on the field when you&#8217;re friends,&#8221;<span>\u00a0<\/span>Mbappe told <span><em>Paris Match<\/em> magazine<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;You both want to do well, to help each other and to score goals. It just works better that way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The prospect of Mbappe and Benzema linking up is certainly a tantalising one. The former is currently joint-third in the assist charts this season across Europe&#8217;s top five leagues, setting his team-mates up on eight occasions, while Benzema ranks joint-fourth, with a tally of seven.<\/p>\n<p>Such selfless play and an obvious playmaker instinct suggests they would flourish in tandem, having already created an on-pitch understanding at international level for France. Whether the two <i>Bleus\u00a0<\/i>link up at club level, though, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming, off-the-pitch friendship with the Real Madrid forward. The 22-year-old World Cup winner has been heavily linked with a move to the Bernabeu in the summer when his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires, and comments like his latest will only&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":1238351,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming friendship with the Real Madrid forward.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-1238350","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kylian Mbappe talks up &#039;friendship&#039; with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links | Squawka | EN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming friendship with the Real Madrid forward.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kylian Mbappe talks up &#039;friendship&#039; with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming friendship with the Real Madrid forward.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Squawka | EN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2021\/12\/16171521\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1704\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@squawka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ben Green\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c\"},\"headline\":\"Kylian Mbappe talks up &#8216;friendship&#8217; with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-16T17:34:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/16171521\\\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/\",\"name\":\"Kylian Mbappe talks up 'friendship' with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links | Squawka | EN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/16171521\\\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-16T17:34:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming friendship with the Real Madrid forward.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/16171521\\\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/16171521\\\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1704},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Squawka\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Kylian Mbappe talks up &#8216;friendship&#8217; with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Squawka | EN\",\"description\":\"Football News, Stats, and More...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c\",\"name\":\"Ben Green\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ben Green\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/BenMGreen95\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/ben-green\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kylian Mbappe talks up 'friendship' with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links | Squawka | EN","description":"Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming friendship with the Real Madrid forward.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kylian Mbappe talks up 'friendship' with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links","og_description":"Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming friendship with the Real Madrid forward.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/","og_site_name":"Squawka | EN","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1704,"url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2021\/12\/16171521\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@squawka","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/"},"author":{"name":"Ben Green","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c"},"headline":"Kylian Mbappe talks up &#8216;friendship&#8217; with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links","datePublished":"2021-12-16T17:34:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/"},"wordCount":388,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2021\/12\/16171521\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/","name":"Kylian Mbappe talks up 'friendship' with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links | Squawka | EN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2021\/12\/16171521\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-16T17:34:46+00:00","description":"Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming friendship with the Real Madrid forward.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2021\/12\/16171521\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2021\/12\/16171521\/1238350_1238350_PA-64315283-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1704},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/kylian-mbappe-karim-benzema-friendship-real-madrid\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Squawka","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Kylian Mbappe talks up &#8216;friendship&#8217; with Karim Benzema amid Real Madrid links"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/","name":"Squawka | EN","description":"Football News, Stats, and More...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c","name":"Ben Green","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ben Green"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/BenMGreen95"],"url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/author\/ben-green\/"}]}},"yoast_title":"","yoast_description":"Kylian Mbappe believes he works so well with Karim Benzema for France because of his blossoming friendship with the Real Madrid forward.","yoast_keyword":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1238350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1238350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1238351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238350"},{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=1238350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}