Paris St Germain
- PSG will listen to offers for the French forward
- Mbappé will not travel to Japan with the PSG squad
Fri 21 Jul 2023 10.40pm BST
Paris Saint-Germain have put Kylian Mbappé up for sale after the French striker was dropped from the squad for the pre-season tour of Japan.
Last month, Mbappé told PSG he would not take up the option of a one-year contract extension next summer but stressed his intention to stay in the French capital and go on a free transfer. However, PSG will now listen to offers for the 24-year-old after president Nasser Al-Khelaifi insisted Mbappé must sign a contract extension or leave the club he joined from Monaco in 2018 for £166million. PSG are understood to feel betrayed as they believe Mbappé has already agreed a free transfer with Real Madrid.
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Mbappé has yet to reply to Al-Khelaifi and will now be left out of coach Luis Enrique’s squad, who will travel to Japan for a pre-season campaign.
“My position is very clear. I don’t want to keep repeating it. If Kylian wants to stay, we want him to stay. But he has to sign a new contract,” Al-Khelaifi said earlier this month. “We don’t want to lose the best player in the world easily. This is not possible. He had said he would never leave in vain. It’s not my fault he changed his mind now. We don’t want to lose the best player in the world for nothing. That is very clear.”
Despite his contract situation, Mbappé would still demand an astronomical transfer fee that only a handful of sides could afford. But the news will continue to interest every elite club in Europe, particularly in the Premier League. Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea have all been linked in the past, although Madrid appear to be his most likely destination. Mbappé has long been admired by Madrid president Florentino Pérez and even after the surprise extension of his PSG contract last year – a deal that reportedly includes a £20million after-tax salary and a contract bonus of over £100million – the striker has been open about the idea of joining Madrid, phoning Pérez personally last year to explain his decision to stay.
“I have great respect for it [Pérez] and for Real Madrid,” Mbappé said in May 2022. “They wanted to do a lot to make me happy.” So I thank them for that. I also want to thank the Real fans. I hope they will understand that I have decided to stay [at PSG].”
Mbappé played for PSG in a friendly against Le Havre on Friday and scored the second goal in a 2-0 win. His 16-year-old brother Ethan is part of the touring squad, as are stars like Neymar, whose future is also being speculated about.
PSG will play Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr and Cerezo Osaka in Osaka next week before taking on Internazionale in Tokyo on August 1 and South Korean club Jeonbuk Motors two days later.
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