Erling Haaland is the talk of the town right now but Real Madrid’s number one target is Kylian Mbappe. The Frenchman is in the midst of contract negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain, as is his team-mate Neymar. Diario AS, citing Telefoot1, have reported there’s white smoke in the negotiations with the Brazilian, meaning that it takes pressure off PSG in trying to retain Mbappe.
Losing both of their major stars would have been a bad look, but they can now shape it as if they’ve chosen Neymar over Mbappe should the Frenchman leave. It’s thought that it would take between €120m and €150m to prise Mbappe from Paris, with long-term suitors Madrid as well as Liverpool interested.
Madrid need to be intelligent to create the space to bring him in, however, and fulfil a series of conditions necessary to make the deal happen. Mbappe, for his part, wants to lead a team, and knows that Neymar is the main man at PSG.
There’s also sporting reasons from a team perspective. Mbappe has made it clear that winning the Champions League is of essential importance to him, and felt their final defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich deeply. PSG’s upcoming Champions League quarter-final, again against Bayern, will be crucial.
