Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has reportedly told the club to inform Monaco that they’re ready to splash out €110m on Kylian Mbappe this summer.
The 18-year-old continues to impress this season as he looks to add to his tallies of 24 goals and 11 assists in 39 appearances in all competitions.
While Monaco favourites for the Ligue 1 title they have a task on their hands against Juventus in the Champions League, but even up against the likes of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, Mbappe’s pace, movement and cleverness caused the experienced Italian backline trouble in the 2-0 loss earlier this week.
That was just another indication of how talented he is, and as reported by the Metro, via Le10 Sport, Guardiola is adamant about signing him this summer and City are said to have verbally told Monaco that they will be prepared to go as high as £94m which would of course be a new world-record transfer fee.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Manchester United have all been credited with an interest in the teenager, with the report noting that United failed with a £72m offer for Mbappe earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger revealed this week that he had even visited Mbappe at his home last year in an attempt to persuade him to join Arsenal, a move which would naturally have continued to see him draw comparisons with Gunners legend Thierry Henry.
Nevertheless, with the money being talked about it, it’s difficult to see Arsenal competing, and if City are serious about splashing out a new record fee, then it’s also tough to see how the rest of the competition will be able to rival them.
If Mbappe does move to the Etihad, he will be a pivotal piece in Guardiola’s team as he continues to assemble a young and dangerous collection of attacking players.