All the money in the world shouldn’t be enough to persuade Kylian Mbappe to stay at Paris Saint-Germain after the frankly bizarre scenes we witnessed as they won the Ligue 1 title last night.
PSG drew 1-1 with Lens to get the point they needed to be crowned champions of France, but it was hardly a celebratory mood at the Parc des Princes as large numbers of the club’s fans staged a remarkable walk-out so they could celebrate on the streets, instead of with their players.
According to ESPN, talks over a new big-money contract for Mbappe are moving in a positive direction, but the Frenchman surely needs to get away from this farce masquerading as a football club as soon as he can.
This is not the first time PSG fans have made it clear just how little they think of their players, with ESPN reporting that Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi were booed during games after their Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid.
The message from PSG fans is clear: league titles aren’t enough, only the Champions League will do. Given how uncompetitive the French top flight is, that doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable, but it’s a miserable situation for a player this good to find himself in.
Mbappe looks on course to become one of the greats of his generation, but every domestic success at PSG will have an asterisk next to it, and will be met by indifference by the crowds he’s playing in front of every week.
This is, quite simply, not what football should be about.
Mbappe would be a God at Liverpool, who have been linked with a stunning move for the 23-year-old by FourFourTwo in recent times.
Surely a great player like this can see that all the money in the world isn’t worth what a different club could give him. Under Jurgen Klopp he could take his game to another level, he could play in front of the adoring Kop end, winning not only titles, but memorable European nights, high-intensity derby matches, scoring goals that feel like they not only matter, but that lift the roof.
Last night should not only be a wake-up call for Mbappe, but for Mohamed Salah too, who should see that what he has at Anfield is special, and won’t be easily replaced anywhere else.
Mbappe will be a free agent in just a few weeks and it will be intriguing to see if this bizarre incident plays a key role in him deciding his future.
Whether he ends up at Liverpool or somewhere else entirely, it would be nice if this amazing player could spend his peak years somewhere where he’ll be appreciated, rather than just forming part of a soulless project where nothing but unrealistic standards are ever good enough.
Did you actually say like God?!
True true