Football news over the last few days has been dominated by one man: Kylian Mbappe. The 24-year-old looks set to leave Paris Saint-Germain at some point over the next 12 months, having confirmed his intention not to sign a new contract at the French champions.
As a result, PSG transfer-listed him, so that they do not lose him for free when his current deal expires next summer. Luckily for them, they have had interest, with one club in particular stealing the limelight.
Real Madrid have been in pole position to sign Mbappe, but that does not appear to be the case now, with Al Hilal have offered PSG a record-breaking €300m in order to sign him this summer, when they accepted with haste.
It means that the ball is in Mbappe’s court over whether to accept the Saudi Arabian club’s advances. They have offered him a contract which would see him earn an eye-watering €700m, which would make him the highest-paid footballer on the planet.
It has also been reported that it would be a one-year deal, which would allow Mbappe to join Real Madrid for free next summer, like he has intended to do whilst at PSG. In this sense, Los Blancos will not particularly mind where the Frenchman ends up for this season. However, recent reports suggest that this may not be the case.
According to Diario AS, Al Hilal are proposing a two-year contract to Mbappe, rather than just one. The two parties are currently in discussions over personal terms, and the player has reiterated that he would only want a one-year deal.
It’s a strange situation that Real Madrid are facing. A transfer this summer is all-but ruled out, but it was never their intention to buy Mbappe now anyway as they want to retain those funds and just sign him as a free agent.
It had appeared that both outcomes would allow them to do this, but with Al Hilal now proposing a two-year contract, the situations has now changed. It would mean that Real Madrid would prefer he rejected the move to Saudi Arabia, so that they can guarantee his arrival in 2024.
Real Madrid’s preferred scenario would probably have been for Mbappe to head to Saudi Arabia for a year, so that they didn’t risk facing him in the Champions League and potentially being defeated/knocked out by PSG. However, they may now have to hope that he remains in the French capital for the 2023-24 campaign.
It will be very interested to see how the situation between Mbappe, PSG and Al Hilal unfolds. In the meantime, Real Madrid will be carefully watching to see how everything plays out, as well as hoping that they can get him for free next summer.
