Rumours about the future of Kylian Mbappe spanned years, with many pointing to Real Madrid as his destination sooner or later. That may still come to pass, but for two summers in a row, Paris Saint-Germain shocked the world by fighting off Real Madrid’s interest to keep the French forward.
Mbappe extended his contract with PSG this summer for a further three years, despite maintaining that joining the Spanish giants was his dream after doing so. It’s easy to forget that Real Madrid had tried to bring him to the Santiago Bernabeu last summer too, as confirmed by PSG CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Kylian Mbappe's 2021/22 season for PSG in Ligue 1 might just have been his best yet! ?
– 35 games
– 28 goals
– 19 assistsWHAT. A. FOOTBALLER! ?
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— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) June 21, 2022
Speaking to Le Parisien, in an interview covered by Get French Football News, Al-Khelaifi confirmed that Real Madrid had made a €170m (£145m) offer for him last year. The point he was making was that although Mbappe has been cast as a mercenary by some, according to Al-Khelaifi, Los Blancos were offering more money than PSG.
Real Madrid President Florentino Perez more or less backed that up during an interview last week. Speaking on the matter for the first time, Perez claimed that Mbappe had turned them down due to the pressure put on him in France.
There is little doubt that would have been the case, although to imply that Real Madrid don’t use all of the means at their disposal to secure signings would be disingenuous too. Given it looked inevitable that Mbappe would depart on a free this summer, PSG’s resolve to turn down such a significant bid has to be admired on some level.