Tuesday morning’s training session at Paris Saint-Germain could be one of the most awkward that Kylian Mbappe is involved with, given that it will be the first time he’s seen club president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, since handing in a letter to express a wish to leave the club next summer.
According to Sky Sports, Al-Khelaifi will address the entire squad and manager, Luis Enrique, and appeal for unity and a desire to get behind the Spaniard as the Ligue Un reigning champions ready themselves for another season.
From the French World Cup winner’s point of view, he’s apparently more than happy to stay for the 2023/24 season and will give of his best throughout the campaign, though the president can’t countenance his star man leaving for nothing in 12 months time.
Quite how the dynamic is going to play out is anyone’s guess, particularly as it’s believed that the club will actively look for a buyer this August if Al-Khelaifi doesn’t manage to change Mbappe’s mind.
That could prove to be a fruitless exercise in any event given that, even if a club agree to a cut-price switch with PSG, Mbappe himself is hardly likely to sign.
It seems obvious that his ultimate destination is Real Madrid, and by strategically serving PSG with a letter, he walks away as a free man in a year, subsequently maximising his earnings with Los Blancos as there will be no transfer fee to speak of.
Players are often pawns in a bigger game and are moved around at the behest of owners, so arguably Mbappe is only giving the club a taste of its own medicine and they don’t like it.