It is still unknown if Kylian Mbappe will even be on the roster when Paris Saint-Germain kicks off its league campaign at home against Lorient on Saturday due to his ongoing transfer impasse with the French club.
Neymar’s future at the club also appears to be in doubt at the moment.
Neymar has informed the club that he wants to leave this summer, according to a report from France’s top sports publication L’Equipe on Monday evening, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the defending French league winner.
When approached by The Associated Press about Neymar’s condition, PSG stated that the club would not comment.
The 31-year-old Neymar signed a contract with PSG until 2025 after leaving Barcelona for a world record cost of 222 million euros ($244 million).
Mbappe, who joined PSG in 2017 as well, intends to play for the club this year before leaving on a free transfer when his contract expires, at which point he may demand a hefty signing-on fee and a greater pay. His transfer to Real Madrid has received a lot of media attention.
Mbappe notified the team in June that he would wait until 2025 to fulfill the last year of his contract. To prevent him from leaving for free at the conclusion of the season, PSG retaliated by saying he will be sold this summer and cut him out of a preseason tour to Japan and South Korea. Since then, Mbappe has been exercising alone or with unimportant players, and until a deal is done, it seems doubtful that he will be included in the team against Lorient.
Following the loss of Lionel Messi, who holds the record for most Ballon d’Or wins with seven, PSG now appears to be in risk of losing its other two superstars.
Messi left PSG for Inter Miami after declining the one-year contract extension PSG had given the Argentine World Cup winner.
However, after years of appeasing its star players, most notably Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Neymar, PSG is now demonstrating a clear intention to not be bullied.
Mbappe posted a picture of himself online last week after working out with some unimportant players after being excluded from the preseason tour. Fans gathered in front of the club’s training facility outside of Paris as he paused to sign autographs.
Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia has made a world-record $332 million proposal for Mbappe, but the 24-year-old France international is determined to stay in Europe. When the Saudi club’s representatives were in Paris last month to sign another player, he reportedly declined to speak with them.
The 14-time European Cup winner is in a much stronger position this time, and Mbappe is the perfect substitute for Karim Benzema. Madrid has twice failed in its attempts to get Mbappe.
He would be a landmark acquisition and is still young enough to play there for many years, unlike Karim Benzema, who left Real Madrid after 14 trophy-laden seasons and 354 goals for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.
Mbappe has 212 goals overall for PSG but has never won the Champions League. He also has his sights set on matching Benzema’s Ballon d’Or success.
