Paris Saint-Germain CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi might be coming to terms with the idea of losing Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid, even if he will do all he can to keep him between now and next summer. However he will not let the deal go.
Mbappe will be free to leave and sign a deal with Real Madrid for no cost as things stand, but much like happened to Barcelona, Al-Khelaifi will look to hit back through the market. The Blaugrana publicly pursued Italian midfielder Marco Verratti in 2016, but did not manage to get a deal over the line in the end.
Nevertheless, PSG came back swinging the next summer, paying Neymar’s €222m release clause and plunging Barcelona into institutional chaos, the tailspin of which they are only just coming out of. OK Diario (via Sport) claim that PSG have drawn up a shortlist of players they are willing to pursue at the Santiago Bernabeu to get their revenge on Los Blancos in similar fashion.
Top of that list are Rodrygo Goes and Vinicius Junior, who could slot into any attack in the world and look at home. Meanwhile midfield lynchpins Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde are other stars they would happily poach. As pointed out though, all five have long-term deals, with release clauses set at around €750m, with the possible exception of Vinicius, whose contract status is unknown.
With Mbappe going the other way, PSG would have to persuade these players to leave Real Madrid too, with all of them well inducted into the Real Madrid-greatness mindset. Unless there was an already existing issue, such as game time, to make them consider a move, then PSG will have their work cut out. Equally, depending on the money on offer, it could actually benefit Real Madrid, only Barcelona reinvested their cash poorly.