The relationship between Paris Saint-Germain and their superstar striker, Kylian Mbappe, is becoming more and more fraught by the day.
It seems clear that the French World Cup winner has engineered a situation whereby he will leave the Ligue Un champions at the end of next season in order to go and play for Real Madrid.
By refusing to sign the 12 month extension to his contract, he can simply walk away from the Parc des Princes next summer for nothing.
With no transfer fee to pay for his services Los Blancos can more easily accede to his salary expectations, so it’s no wonder that PSG president, Nasser El-Khelaifi, is up in arms.
Even if that is Mbappe’s intention, however, his current employers won’t allow the deal to happen in the way the striker wants it without a fight.
Indeed, according to reliable journalist, Fabrizio Romano, writing in his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack, the club have handed him a two-week deadline to get his house in order.
‘After the strong words of Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, about Kylian Mbappe, what I want to clarify in this case is that the timing of the negotiation is going to be really important,’ Romano noted.
‘PSG still haven’t decided how much the player is worth in terms of potential asking price. They will communicate that in a very clear way to the player, to the mother of the player and to other clubs, but only when they have Mbappe’s final answer.
‘The message from Al-Khelaifi is that Mbappe has to decide within 7-14 days. If he says no to the contract extension, PSG will clarify how much they want to sell him for this summer. This is the idea of the club, with Real Madrid keeping quiet but still really interested of course.’
It’s obvious why Real are keeping their distance at this point, and it will be interesting to see how everything plays out once the 14-day deadline is up.
Though Mbappe is a world star, going up against PSG in such circumstances is a real David vs Goliath battle.
Should any clubs come through with a deal that’s acceptable to the Ligue Un champions, the mess it will then create if the player simply refuses to negotiate is likely to be something we’ve not witnessed before.