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Kylian Mbappe will be a Real Madrid player soon and it is simply a matter of time before we get official confirmation that the France international has joined Los Blancos. The Spanish giants' president Florentino Perez has never hidden his admiration for the Paris Saint-Germain man and Mbappe has publicly recognized that he grew up supporting Real and dreaming of one day playing at Santiago Bernabeu like countless greats before him. The 25-year-old is expected to soon make that dream a reality but with that reality comes a challenge for Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti: manage to fit Mbappe into what is already a star-studded Merengues starting XI. We take a look at what the French superstar brings to the table in his current strong form, how that impacts current Real starters and how the La Liga leaders could look with their new man on board.

The PSG view

First and foremost, Mbappe's prolific numbers with PSG cannot be argued with. The scorer of 32 goals and author four assists across all competitions with the French champions so far this season, only Bayern Munich's Harry Kane and Inter's Lautaro Martinez better Mbappe's Ligue 1 goals tally across the top domestic leagues. Mbappe is equal to Kane and better off than Martinez in terms of UEFA Champions League goals and that is despite a late start to the season in Paris and a recent spell in and out of the team because of a minor ankle injury.

What is very interesting, though, is the breakdown of where his goals have come from this season with his minutes spread across central and left-sided roles. Although, positionally, Mbappe is most prolific through the middle, it should be noted that he has five more goals from the left than he does centrally having spent more or less equal amounts of time in each position. Luis Enrique has experimented with a variety of different attacking combinations including a two-man approach up top, but a front three with Mbappe flanked by two creative wide talents in Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola seems to work best despite the big expenditure on Randal Kolo Muani.

The obvious, immediate takeaway when assessing Mbappe's goal details is that Real have two very influential figures in the left and central areas with Vini Jr. arguably at his best coming in from the wing. The Brazilian has been asked to play more centrally at time this year while Jude Bellingham has also stepped up following his arrival from Borussia Dortmund to create a strong scoring tandem with Vini Jr. Neither are really close to Mbappe's clinical levels numerically, though, despite the England international enjoying an incredibly fruitful debut season in Madrid to a degree that few truly expected him to immediately reach statistically with nearly 30 direct goal involvements already.

Does it mean that someone might be sacrificed at some point in order for Ancelotti to maintain some sense of balance to the team? We will get to that but there is no doubt that the vastly experienced Italian is ready for the other challenge that Mbappe will present once a Real player. With the France captain's arrival, this will be the first time since arguably Cristiano Ronaldo's era that the Spanish giants have possessed a player of Galactico proportions on and off the field. You could argue that Karim Benzema was also extremely high profile but he developed into a Ballon d'Or winner during his time at the club instead of arriving as a readymade candidate for that sort of individual success. As we have seen from Mbappe in Paris, he is a dominant figure and rarely out of the headlines and keeping that sort of power in check will be arguably Real's greatest challenge of all once he arrives -- especially if his extended farewell period with PSG ends in ultimate success in Europe.

The Real Madrid view

Following the departure of Karim Benzema to Saudi Arabia, there has been a hole centrally that needed to be filled. Despite trying Vini Jr. and Rodrygo in a front two and also adding Joselu to the ranks, Ancelotti's best performer making late runs into the box in meaningful moments has been Bellingham. While the young Englishman has been in top form and has also propelled Madrid back to the top of La Liga, it's better for all parties if he's able to slide back into a more natural box-to-box midfield role. 

Positional flexibility is part of what makes Bellingham great but with Brahim Diaz and Arda Guler also on the roster, there won't be a shortage of central options if Mbappe's presence causes Bellingham to fit into a deeper role. This also allows Ancelotti to shift to a 4-3-3 so that Mbappe can be flanked on either side making Real Madrid even more dangerous.

While Mbappe and Vini Jr. prefer to take up similar positions on the left, Mbappe's ability to play centrally means that he'll need to do that at Real. While not providing the aerial presence that Benzema did through the middle, if teams allow Real Madrid to get out on the break, they'll be carved to shreds with Vini Jr.'s devastating dribbles down the wing creating space to feed Mbappe in the middle. If teams sit in to stop the break, that's when Bellingham's prowess from deep comes into play as well alongside Federico Valverde's shots from range.

One player who may not fit this curated attack is Rodrygo. While the Brazillian's goalscoring numbers have risen over the past few seasons, he has also needed to be a volume shooter to do that averaging more than three shots per 90 minutes played. Only putting one shot on target per game, he hasn't been efficient enough to potentially thrive seeing less of the ball next to Vini. Jr and Mbappe. Not laying on many assists either, it brings into question what Rodrygo's role would be in a revamped Real Madrid setup. Thriving on inventiveness and cutting inside to shoot when you least expect him to, the Brazillian has been able to mostly manage his own play under Ancelotti but as expectations rise, it could make sense for a more traditional winger to take that role.

Endrick will be coming from Palmeiras in the summer and while the 17-year-old won't come right into the lineup, the wing is likely where he'll land in the future but a stopgap option could also join in the summer if Real do feel that moving on from Rodrygo is the right option. Los Blancos have excelled at balancing tough decisions around their players in the past and it's safe to assume that they'll continue to do so ahead of a critical summer. Expectations will be through the roof but with appropriate balance, they can be reached.