Summer hasn’t officially started yet and we’re already holding its main drama. By not wanting to continue the adventure at Paris Saint-Germain beyond 2024, despite the possibility of extending for an additional year, Kylian Mbappé set fire to the powder. Even Emmanuel Macron wants to get involved in the file. “I don’t have a scoop, but I will try to push for (that he stays),” the President of the Republic told RMC.
But, tired of repeated disappointments in the Champions League and recruitment not up to his ambitions, the captain of the Blues could well pack his bags after six seasons in Paris.
Even if the blow would be terrible for PSG, with the loss of a major asset and a strong symbol, the management of the capital club now seems willing to let go of its 24-year-old striker. “The door will be open. We have started phase 2 of the new project, which is based on the collective and not on individuals. If we have to rebuild without him, we will,” a PSG member told L’Équipe on Wednesday.
���� Ibrahima Konaté on Kylian Mbappé’s captaincy in the France team: “He hasn’t changed his behavior. It’s always the same. He has just started, you have to give him time. But I’m sure that he’s going to be a very good captain for the nation.” pic.twitter.com/WkIzWPOoPB
Unthinkable a few days ago, the sale of Kylian Mbappé now seems likely. PSG, however, must solve a complex equation: sell at the right price a player who is free next January but remains one of the greatest talents in world football. Valued at 180 million euros by the Transfermarkt site, the player trained at AS Monaco is not accessible to everyone, but a few suitors can gather the conditions to welcome him.
In search of a new major center forward after the departure of Karim Benzema in Saudi Arabia, Real Madrid meets all the criteria to welcome the 2018 world champion. With an ultra-competitive team in recent years in the Champions League and a club installed at the top of the European elite, the White House seems to stand out today as the ideal base for Mbappé. For many years, the two parties have turned around and the native of Bondy has never hidden his affection for Real and Cristiano Ronaldo, his idol and former Merengue player.
Florentino Pérez, the Madrid president, thus declared that the possibility of seeing Mbappé land in Spain was concrete, while specifying that “it would not be for this year”. Skilled in the transfer market, the emblematic manager of Real could well wait for the end of the French international’s contract to recruit him without paying compensation to Paris Saint-Germain. If there had been frustration last year in Madrid to see Mbappé extend his adventure with PSG, it now seems well evacuated.
If Real has the financial guarantees to welcome the top scorer in Ligue 1, the number of clubs in the same situation is quite limited. We must necessarily turn to the Premier League, where the teams are experiencing incredible growth, with TV rights that exceed 5 billion euros per year. Among the clubs cut for Mbappé, we find Manchester United, currently on sale. The Glazer family will indeed cede the Red Devils most likely… to Qatar, which is bound to be a game-changer.
As captain of the Blues, Kylian Mbappé could face the press this Thursday in a pre-match conference against Gibraltar by accompanying Didier Deschamps. And, inevitably, questions are likely to arise about its future.