A new number for a new start? Real Madrid's French striker Kylian Mbappé, who had a record-breaking debut season on an individual level but without a major trophy, will begin his second Spanish campaign in search of the glory that has so far eluded him.

It's a luxury he hasn't experienced in years: three weeks of vacation. Three weeks to disconnect, work physically, and arrive sharpened to open the second chapter of his life in Madrid.

A necessary break for the new White House number 10, weakened in June by a virus during the Club World Cup, at the end of a season as frustrating as it was exhausting.

Just a month after his mishap in the United States, it was a Mbappé in good form, involved and already decisive, that Madrid supporters saw on Tuesday during the only official friendly match of the short Merengue pre-season, against the modest Austrian team Tirol (4-0).

With a brace and an assist, the Bondy player got his season off to a perfect start, a far cry from his timid debut at the Santiago Bernabéu last summer, before gradually establishing himself as the attacking leader of Carlo Ancelotti's team.

- Neither 10 nor 9, but leader -

Because his status, difficult to define upon his arrival in a team full of stars which had just marched on Europe, today suffers no contest in the Spanish capital.

The recovery of Luka Modric's number 10, his favorite number in the French national team, after he left for AC Milan, is not insignificant and should be accompanied, according to the Madrid press, by greater responsibilities within the locker room.

New Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, who will attempt to bring his former club back to the top of world football, has reportedly already designated Mbappé as the designated penalty taker, to definitively close the debate.

While he will certainly struggle to improve his individual statistics - 44 goals in all competitions - the captain of the Blues, well aware of the tactical demands of the Basque, will have to make additional collective efforts, like his friend Ousmane Dembélé with Paris SG.

"We need a team that presses together and all 11 individuals work together to do a good defensive job," warned Xabi Alonso at the Club World Cup.

"We have the same demands on Mbappé as we do on Huijsen, Tchouaméni or Ceballos," he added.

- Connection with Vinicius -

To hope to get closer -- finally -- to a first Champions League and his first Ballon d'Or, Mbappé, crowned European Golden Shoe last season, will also have to establish a connection with his attacking partner Vinicius Junior.

The overall understanding and permutations of the two Madrid arrows could indeed play a key role in the tactical revolution desired by Xabi Alonso.

"It's about understanding, about feeling. I think it can work well; they (Mbappé and Vinicius) obviously have a lot of individual qualities. But we have to play together so that everyone can benefit from the collective system," Alonso describes.

Still positioned at the front of the attack but therefore very free in his movements, Mbappé could also take advantage of the emergence of the young Spanish striker Gonzalo Garcia to regain, at least in certain sequences, his preferred position on the left side.

The arrivals of English full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right, Spaniard Alvaro Carreras on the left, and the return from injury of captain Dani Carvajal, as potential providers of assists, could also place the former Parisian striker in better situations in front of goal.

It's up to him to be as clinical as he has been since January (32 goals in 38 matches in all competitions) to go and win the titles he came looking for by signing for "the club of his dreams".