According to Diario AS, Pérez had scheduled the encounter with Mbappé and CEO José Ángel Sánchez as part of a broader attempt to take stock of the dressing room's state ahead of the summer rebuild. The meeting's purpose — to gauge Mbappé's commitment to the project and assess his attitude for next season — predates Thursday's exchange with Arbeloa, which lit a new fire under an already fractured environment.
The club continues to regard Mbappé as irreplaceable in public. Pérez called him the best player at the club and backed the European Golden Boot publicly on La Sexta on Wednesday.
But within the club hierarchy there is a growing concern about his behaviour — a distancing from teammates, gestures and absences that colleagues have reportedly found difficult to explain and that Madrid officials consider avoidable.
The source's message from the hierarchy is unambiguous: nobody at Real Madrid is bigger than the club, and the examples of Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos were cited internally as precedents for decisions that placed the institution first.
The responsibility for restoring order is expected to fall to the new head coach, who — barring any change — will be José Mourinho. The Portuguese, who has already held informal contact with Vinícius Júnior, Courtois and Mbappé about the project, is understood to have told Pérez he is confident of imposing discipline on the dressing room once confirmed in post.
Mourinho's reported conditions include full authority over the squad's internal dynamics and a say in the summer transfer window.
The club goes into its final two games — Sevilla away, then a home farewell — with the dressing room publicly broken, two consecutive trophyless seasons confirmed, and a managerial appointment that cannot come quickly enough for those running the club from the inside.