You might recall Real Madrid bidding exorbitant amounts of money to land Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain, only to be denied, in the summer of 2021. You also might remember it happening again last summer. This summer brings the third installment of the transfer saga, and this time, it’s going to be more dramatic than ever.
Mbappe and the PSG hierarchy are just not on the same page, at all, and this high profile feud is playing out in public right before our very eyes.
The Mbappe camp released a statement today announcing he had no intention of triggering his optional one year extension, which would keep him one more season beyond the end of his current contract, which expires in 2024. It was reported yesterday that the France striker had already notified club hierarchy of this via an official letter.
So of Mbappe gets his way, he’ll play this season in the French capital and then walk on a free next summer. The club wants no part of that.
They will not let, by some measures, the world’s most valuable footballer leave on a Bosman transfer and leave them with absolutely nothing in return.
Obviously, PSG want to cash in, as they are, after all, very much a for profit business. There are reports indicating that Real Madrid are ready to bid again, immediately, and that prompted a public response from the 24-year-old French national icon.
Mbappe went on social media to discredit reports claiming he wants to move to Madrid this summer.
Kylian Mbappe denounced these narratives as “LIES” and even insisted:
“I have already said that I will continue at PSG next season where I am very happy.”
His denunciation is in the original French below:
Juste pour Info ?
Je n’ai pas de compte Snapchat donc merci de ne pas faire attention à tous ces fakes ????— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) November 20, 2017
We now have what you would call a standoff, and this is only the first chapter. Get ready because it’s going to be a very long summer transfer window impasse. The first shots in a war of words have now been fired.
Madrid had reportedly been willing to wait until next summer for Mbappe, someone who many view as the heir apparent to the duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
However, the Bernabeu needs to replace Karim Benzema, this summer, and Mbappe has now done his part to re-open the possibility.
Madrid reportedly bid as high as €200m (£171m) for the superstar of superstars, only to see any potential deal fall apart. The Spanish giants thought they had a deal in place, only to see Mbappe re-up with PSG, twice. So in other words, we’ve seen Mbappe and PSG clash before, during the summer silly season, only to go back to each other.
How will it go down with Mbappe this time? No one truly knows, but we do know there is plenty of bad blood over this already between Real Madrid and PSG.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.