Author: Amrit Santlani
Kylian Mbappe has two simple choices to make this summer: if he wants to stay at Paris Saint-Germain, the Frenchman will have to sign a new contract with PSG; otherwise, he will be sold this summer, according to club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Mbappe has caused a shock in the world soccer fraternity by announcing his intention not to extend his current contract beyond the summer of 2024, meaning that the 2018 World Cup winner will be a free agent next season. PSG don’t want to let their valuable asset go for nothing, and club president Al-Khelaifi has once again reiterated his desire to keep Kylian.
At a press conference to introduce new coach Luis Enrique, following the dismissal of Christophe Galtier, the PSG president stressed that the 24-year-old has up to two weeks to decide his future.
“If Kylian Mbappe wants to stay – we want him to stay – he needs to sign a new contract,” said Al-Khelaifi.
“We can’t allow the best player in the world at the moment to leave for free. That’s impossible” he added.
Although the Frenchman has the option to extend his current contract beyond 2024, he doesn’t want to do that and, with Real Madrid on the prowl, the Ligue 1 giants don’t want to allow Mbappe to enter the final 12 months of his contract.
Having initially joined the club in 2017, rejecting Madrid, the teenager would go on to become one of the best players in the world, guiding France to the 2022 World Cup final, where he scored a hat-trick and in the penalty shoot-out, but ultimately lost to Lionel Messi’s Argentina – 3:3 (2-4 pen.).
In total, Mbappe has scored 212 goals in 260 games for PSG, and the Parisians are likely to demand a high price for their prized asset, even if they agree to sell him this summer. As they have already spent almost 100 million euros to sign Jude Bellingham, it remains to be seen whether Real Madrid will be able to negotiate with Ligue 1 and resolve the saga once and for all.