Ever since Kylian Mbappe rocked the world of football by letting Paris Saint-Germain know that he had no intention of staying at the club beyond the 2023/24 season, the rumour mill has been in overdrive.
The French superstar has done nothing wrong and would appear to have gone through the correct channels to notify his club of his future intentions, but it’s safe to say that they are absolutely furious.
Knowing that the player can walk away for nothing in a year’s time and there’s absolutely nothing that they can do about it is clearly a sore point, and it could be argued that the power play from Mbappe has nothing to do with getting the upper hand. Rather, just an employee exercising his right to move on.
‘I can confirm today that Mbappe said no to the final desperate proposal from Paris Saint-Germain,’ Fabrizio Romano wrote in his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack.
‘[…] PSG will continue to keep the player out of the first-team squad, training with players who are out of the project.
‘PSG are very strong on their position, believing that Mbappe has an agreement with Real Madrid for summer 2024. That’s the feeling that is driving PSG crazy, and Nasser Al-Khelaifi is furious.’
In many respects, if the status quo continues, all PSG are doing is cutting their noses off to spite their face.
It seems absolutely clear that Mbappe isn’t going to change his mind, and whether he is off to Real Madrid or anywhere else is something of a moot point at this stage.
Surely PSG’s purpose in 2023/24 will be better served with the World Cup winner leading their line as always, rather than being banished to the group of players that the club believe will play no part in their immediate future.
Mbappe gets paid the same either way, so he’s hardly likely to be worried if PSG want to act like spoilt children.