PSG is not going to bluff with Kylian Mbappé, at least until now. The threat to the French star from the club’s president, Nasser Al Khelaïfi, who gave him the choice between renewing or being transferred in this transfer market, is no longer just an outburst from the leader, a few words that are carried away by the wind, but has taken shape with the player’s first punishment: off the team’s tour of Japan. The striker’s absence on Japanese soil will probably have a negative impact on the coffers, but the Parisian entity, which has the money as a punishment, has not relaxed its position on him.
The one from Bondy, who has the best cards in this game, announced at the end of last year that he was not going to execute the optional year until 2025 and that his intention was to leave for free at the end of his contract next season, possibly to Real Madrid. PSG feels betrayed by Mbappé, whom he renewed the previous summer with a record contract, at a rate of 72 million euros per year and a bonus of 100 million.
The Parisian entity responded to the striker’s intentions with a letter sent on July 3 in which he assured that he had “done the impossible” for his career “for so many years” and that there had always been “goodwill” on both sides. The letter, published by RMC Sport, also accuses the player of “lack of sincerity” for a position that could cause “a lasting paralysis of the club.”
“This is how all the great players, like you, left their clubs, leaving a lasting legacy and, in turn, helping the club that helped you, and supported your family, since you were a teenager,” says the message from the club, which insists on renewal or a transfer. Mbappé, on the other hand, has no intention of leaving, since if he changes his scene he would lose the money from the renewal bonus, as several French media have pointed out.
The French champion even fears that Mbappé already has an agreement with Madrid for 2024, according to RMC Sport. The Madrid club, which already bet heavily on the Frenchman in 2021 with a proposal of 200 million and also in 2022, when he was going to be released, is the main candidate to take over the Parisian, due to his weakness for white during his childhood, but other offers have already come out.
Several Premier League teams, including Chelsea, would be attentive to the future of the world champion, as explained in France, and in the last few hours the now fashionable option of Saudi Arabia has emerged, which would logically make the Frenchman the highest paid in the world with record wages. However, Mbappé, 24, has always stated that above all else he is after sporting glory, something he would not find in the Persian Gulf.
The soap opera, which has been going on for years, is also affecting the image of Mbappé, who in a few months has gone from being France’s favorite son to an “undesirable”, as he is branded in a Le Parisien report in reference to the rebel players, and being accused of saboteur by L’Équipe. The pressure on the footballer comes from the environment and could increase from the club, whose next step, if he maintains the order, would be to leave him in the stands when the season begins.
Adrien Rabiot was already without playing his last season at PSG (2018-19) due to his refusal to renew. The midfielder accepted his fate and ended up arriving free the following season at Juventus, his current club. Mbappé intends to follow that same script: wait a year, even without playing, as RMC Sport assures. The pulse between the player and PSG continues. Meanwhile, Madrid remains expectant, who has no intention of going crazy this summer to get Bondy’s, practically an obsession for the entity chaired by Florentino Pérez.
