French football expert Jonathan Johnson has provided an update on the Kylian Mbappe situation at Paris Saint-Germain, and has also explained why the club’s threat to leave him on the bench all season if he stays is a non-starter.
Writing in his exclusive weekly column for CaughtOffside, Johnson explained that PSG would likely face legal issues with banishing Mbappe to the Reserves for an entire campaign, while it also generally looks highly unlikely that either party would allow the situation to get to that anyway.
Clearly, Mbappe won’t want to miss a year of football, while PSG would also surely try to reintegrate the 24-year-old into their squad, even if Luis Enrique isn’t necessarily under any obligation to make the French forward a regular starter or build his team around him.
“There’s been talk that PSG have threatened to keep Mbappe on the bench all season if he stays, but I find it hard to believe they’d actually be able to do that,” Johnson said.
“A lot would have to happen between now and the end of the summer for PSG and Mbappe to have to continue together next season, but there have been previous sagas like this with Adrien Rabiot and Hatem Ben Arfa.
“Basically, PSG can keep Mbappe separate from the rest of the squad while the transfer window’s open, but once it’s closed they’ll have a very hard time marginalising him.
“I think there would have to be some sort of reintegration process – that doesn’t necessarily mean that Luis Enrique would have to use him as a player on the pitch and make him a focal point of the team, but PSG wouldn’t be able to just banish him to the Reserves for the entirety of the season because of the legalities that would be involved in a situation like that.
“There’s the French Players’ Union, who could remind PSG that they can’t continue to marginalise him in that way once the transfer window is closed, so the idea of PSG punishing Mbappe in that way doesn’t really chime with what the reality might be.
“I think if Mbappe were to find himself still at PSG in September there would probably have to be some kind of manoeuvre from both the player’s camp and the club to find a way forward together.
“Even without the European Championships coming up next summer, a whole season without playing would not work in Mbappe’s favour – it’s very difficult to imagine that either party would allow the situation to get to that point, especially as there would be major legal complications for PSG.”
Enrique only recently took over as PSG manager and this is far from an ideal start for him at the Parc des Princes, with Mbappe seemingly dead set on leaving PSG on a free for Real Madrid in a year’s time.