The Kylian Mbappe saga at Paris Saint-Germain is set to run and run throughout the 2023/24 campaign, with the French World Cup winner seemingly taking on the Ligue Un giants at their own game.
It’s a brave stand to take given the financial might that could be exerted upon Mbappe should the organisation so wish.
Of course, there does appear to be a legal issue at play in the sense that PSG might not be able to forcibly remove their star striker from the starting XI as some kind of punishment for him not agreeing to move to another team this summer.
The Ligue Un champions have put Mbappe up for sale and were even believed to have recently agreed a world record €300m bid with Saudi Pro League side, Al Hilal.
However, the player himself isn’t interested in negotiating with anyone it seems. A free-transfer move to Spanish giants, Real Madrid, next summer is the most likely scenario.
Even if PSG aren’t able to shift the striker elsewhere, they could get around any potential problems by signing a new front man that would, effectively, take Mbappe’s place.
A sale or not won’t affect whether the club decide to go after another big name.
“If PSG were to bank €300m from selling Mbappe, I’m not sure it would actually change their transfer plans significantly – the players they’ve looked at already have pretty big price tags,” Jonathan Johnson said in his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack.
“They have looked the situations regarding players like Victor Osimhen and Harry Kane, so those are players already on PSG’s radar, it’s just that there’s the feeling they might not be the best fit.”
For anyone with a passing interest in football, this is a story that has already dominated the headlines for far too long, and the sooner things are sorted out one way or another, the better for all concerned.