Paris Saint-Germain would have done without that. While the Parisian staff is on all fronts with the search for a new coach, a workforce to be reduced and new recruits to be finalized, Kylian Mbappé risks changing the situation with a new turnaround.
With Lionel Messi leaving Inter Miami in the United States at the end of his contract and a disgraced Neymar, PSG have decided to rebuild everything around their 24-year-old star striker.
But Mbappé, who is not at his first attempt, decided to send a letter to mean that he would not activate his contract extension clause for an additional year in 2024. PSG therefore finds his back to the wall, with a player who could well leave free without transfer compensation next year.
Real Madrid, who have just lost Karim Benzema, have already tried to sign Ligue 1’s top scorer on several occasions. Florentino Pérez and the Meringues are once again ready to welcome him. Several Premier League clubs also remain on the lookout.
Mbappé has already spent 6 seasons at PSG. Over 200 goals. It’s not nothing. Whatever happens, he will not have been there even if everything could have been different, but six years in a club, especially as poorly structured, is not trivial. Let everyone go their own way.
Unpredictable, the 2018 world champion took everyone by surprise at Camp des Loges. And in this sense, the entire Parisian project could be affected. In its desire to have more consistency and players involved on a daily basis, the management of PSG has targeted several additional players to accompany Kylian Mbappé, headliner who was supposed to be unstoppable.
In full negotiations to buy Manchester United, with an acquisition estimated at six billion euros, Doha finds itself with a real bomb to manage. And the defusing promises to be complex: Nasser al-Khelaïfi is much more discreet in the media and Luis Campos has seen his authority weakened after a delicate first season, symbolized by a failed transfer window and the failure of Christophe Galtier. And for the moment, the capital club still has no one on the bench: Julian Nagelsmann is in pole position, but the German technician hasn’t signed anything yet.
Last October, Kylian Mbappé had already launched a spade at his club by claiming a professional number 9 on which he could rely, like Olivier Giroud in the French team. The famous “pivot gang” that had caused a lot of ink to flow. “I have a lot more freedom, the coach [Didier Deschamps, editor’s note] knows that there is a number 9 like Olivier, who occupies the defenses, and I can walk around, go into space, ask for the balloons,” he explained to the media.
Visibly tired of sporting disappointments like the new failure in the Champions League and recent recruits not living up to his ambitions, Kylian Mbappé has therefore decided to put PSG in front of a fait accompli. In 2021, the Parisian striker had already asked to pack his bags, as he detailed to RMC. “From the moment I didn’t want to extend, I wanted the club to have a transfer fee, to have a quality replacement, because it’s a club that has given me a lot. »
In a press release sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Tuesday, the star of the Blues claims to have never discussed an extension with the club: “The management of the club in charge of its extension”, signed there one year old, was informed as of “July 15, 2022 of her decision [not to go beyond 2024, editor’s note] and the mail had the sole purpose of confirming what had already been clarified orally beforehand”, according to player’s text. A similar position two years later, which will perhaps force Nasser al-Khelaïfi to part with his greatest talent. But are Paris Saint-Germain ready for such a sacrifice? If the capital club is really an institution and above all players, it will have to be proven.
