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

The superstar’s latest move in this never-ending story may be meaningless but his transfer will provide a real test of his talent

NEXT STEP? Kylian Mbappe.

According 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.