There are transfer updates and then there are transfer updates. We’ve heard and seen a public vote of confidence in our time, here and there, but wow! what Paris Saint-Germain CEO Al-Khelaifi said today about Kylian Mbappe is certainly a bit bold.
The club boss addressed the Mbappe transfer rumors linking the 22-year-old with Liverpool and Real Madrid, and he did so with authority!
‘I’ll be clear, Kylian is going to stay with PSG. We’re never going to sell him and he’ll never leave for free,’ Al-Khelaifi told L’Equipe.
‘I never give details to the media about ongoing negotiations. All I can say it that it’s progressing well. I hope we’ll find common ground.
PSG have no plans to sell Kylian Mbappe ? pic.twitter.com/YrMn7KxGOD
— GOAL (@goal) June 6, 2021
‘It’s Paris, it’s his country. He has a mission, not just to be a football player, but to promote Ligue 1, his country and his capital.
‘He is a fantastic boy, as a person and as an athlete. He’ll win the Ballon d’Or in years to come, I’m 100% sure.”
So never going to be sold, and never leaving on a free, huh? Obviously, the intention here was not to be scary or stalkerish, but the way it all came out, you almost feel concerned for the young Frenchman.
Okay, but all jokes aside, the second most expensive player in history (behind teammate Neymar) has one season left on his PSG deal, and extension talks have gone nowhere. On the other hand, an Mbappe move to Liverpool would be rather complicated as well.
So that explains the strong posturing here while Mbappe is away on international duty with France, ahead of the Euro 2021. However, wouldn’t you have loved to see the reaction from Mbappe’s agent when he first heard/read Al-Khelaifi’s comments.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.