The complaint about Kylian Mbappé no longer belongs to the opinion pages. L’Equipe, cited by Goal, has it coming from an unnamed figure inside the club.

“He is being advised very badly, and in terms of image it damages everyone,” the source told the French paper, adding that “after more than two years, the impression is that he still has not understood how Real and those around the club function.”

That framing matters because it reroutes the story. For most of 2026, the noise around Mbappé has come from outside the Bernabéu, Spanish talk shows, French columnists, agents briefing on his behalf. The L’Equipe report, published on October 8, placed the irritation squarely inside Real’s own hierarchy, and it did so with the Ballon d’Or ceremony two and a half weeks away.

What has actually annoyed the club

Two images sit at the center of it. Mbappé was photographed arriving at a Paris nightclub while recovering from a left knee injury suffered on September 25, and he posted social media footage of himself on a bicycle in Switzerland, an activity Mourinho had warned his squad against on his podcast earlier in the season.

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The forward also gave an interview to France Football promoting his Ballon d’Or candidacy, which, according to the Goal report, was received internally as him putting his own award campaign ahead of the team.

Mbappé’s camp pushes back from the other side. According to the same reporting, he feels Real Madrid has not matched Barcelona’s visible support of Lamine Yamal in the award race, and the lack of institutional push behind his candidacy has become its own point of friction.

Mourinho: ‘They are ridiculous’

On October 9, Mourinho pulled the public line back toward his player. Asked at a press conference about the criticism, he answered flatly, per Al Jazeera.

“Are these criticisms over the top? They are ridiculous.”

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Mourinho then provided his version of both scenes. The nightclub, he said, “was not one because it was used for a private event for Fashion Week.” The bicycle in Switzerland, he argued, had been in “a hotel made up of small houses which makes them available so guests can ride to the communal areas.” Mbappé, he confirmed, would start the following day against Villarreal.

The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony takes place at the London Palladium on October 26, the first time the award leaves Paris in its 70-year history. Mbappé goes into it as back-to-back La Liga Pichichi winner, with 25 league goals in the 2025-26 season, but without a major trophy from the campaign to carry him over the line.

A 2027 exit, reportedly in play

The off-pitch noise sits on top of a louder transfer rumor. Spanish journalist François Gallardo reported on October 6 that Mbappé has already decided to leave in the summer of 2027 and that Real Madrid is not going to stand in his way, with Liverpool said to be preparing a package in the region of €200-250m. None of that has been confirmed by the player, the club or Liverpool, and it remains at the rumor stage.

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