It all started with an old photo. Kylian Mbappe sits on his childhood bed, with posters of Cristiano Ronaldo plastered across the room.
That image first came to light in 2017, when the Monaco striker – already considered one of the best strikers in the world at the age of 18 – was looking for a new club. Mbappe chose PSG, thereby putting aside his childhood dream. But there is always the feeling that one day he will become a Real Madrid player
Six years later, the photo above is mentioned again. Mbappe has informed PSG that he will not be extending his current contract until 2024. The news comes less than 12 months after he turned down Madrid’s interest and pledged to stay for at least two years. more with Paris.
PSG is now in the state of a small team: They can sell Mbappe now, or risk losing him a year later.
Used to be the “pet” of Paris
Selling Mbappe does not bring immediate benefits to PSG. There’s a simple theory: To win, you need to win every game. Owning the best player in the world will concretize that. Mbappe will be a key player in next year’s Ligue 1 campaign, as well as helping them compete in the Champions League (though there’s nothing he can do about this team’s annual demise).
Mbappe is a genius player and will only get better. As a son of Paris, as well as once rejecting the appeal of one of the biggest clubs in Europe makes him a jewel of PSG.
In fact, Mbappe is the only player who hasn’t been booed by the PSG fan base. Therefore, the French capital team is unfortunate when Mbappe has a burning desire to go to Madrid. If not, this will be an eternal football marriage.
Mbappe has repeatedly refused invitations from abroad to become the jewel of PSG
Let’s put the romance aside, though. From a team perspective, Mbappe’s interest is dwindling. The French star is increasingly distracted.
The story begins last summer, when Mbappe made huge financial demands with PSG and was quickly approved. The 2018 World Cup winner wants more money, power and freedom than anyone else at the club. Guess what, the team’s management agreed to the last details – before celebrating as if they’d earned a good deal on extending his contract.
Of course, PSG is not to blame for that. Because if it were anyone else, PSG would have refused the demands, even ready to get rid of the disgruntled people. But since it’s Mbappe, the celebrating celebrations despite the €70m bonus they’ve reportedly agreed to pay the Frenchman for each year he stays at the club – perhaps they should be forgive. Football is often quite brutal, but it would be ideal to see Mbappe stay with his hometown team.
Is Mbappe still worth it?
However, Mbappe has always understood the strength he has. The player nicknamed “Ninja turtle” negotiated fiercely with PSG last summer, because he knew they would pay. A deal to bring Mbappe to Madrid was very close at the time, but there was always the feeling that PSG still had a chance to turn things around.
As he expected, PSG was in the water. But his sense of satisfaction did not last long. Mbappe is said to regret his decision to stay immediately. He quickly got on the phone with Florentino Perez to ask Madrid to sign him.
By October, that wish was rekindled. Not long before the Champions League clash, Mbappe revealed he wanted to leave – which caused a stir in the media, before he withdrew his words.
A few months later, Mbappe criticized Neymar in the press for his habit of eating fast food at midnight. Soon after, he continued to feud with the team via social media over a season ticket promotional video that he didn’t like. PSG immediately took it down.
Uncomfortable feelings are getting more and more with Mbappe
And there are many more incidents. Mbappe was appointed vice-captain instead of Presenel Kimpembe, although the French midfielder was unaware of the decision. He criticized his teammates in the press after the defeat to Bayern Munich, admitting PSG were ‘not good enough’ to win the Champions League.
All of which has been overlooked, mainly because Mbappe’s dazzling form on the pitch has led PSG to another Ligue 1 title. Without him, they would probably have been surpassed by Lens.
Could this be just another incident, that Mbappe will repeat his tricks and wait for PSG to pull out an even bigger deal? But this time, it seems he went too far.
Say goodbye to Mbappe immediately?
However, the idea of selling Mbappe is not so simple. A lot of footballers openly wish to leave their host club, but not of this size, of this quality or at this price. Mbappe is one of the most expensive players in the world. In today’s market, superstars of this caliber simply cannot be sold. In a world with no strings attached, it would take a huge amount of money to pull him out of PSG.
Currently, Parisians are very comfortable in setting prices. According to the New York Times, they want to sell Mbappe for approximately … 200 million euros. It is difficult to argue about this price, especially when there is no precedent for how much a player like Mbappe should cost in the final year of his contract.
Real Madrid will pursue Mbappe to the end but not at a price in the sky
The point is that Real Madrid won’t pay that much and PSG certainly know that. At this point, the story is only a matter of price, but it’s still not easy for Los Blancos. They have just spent 103 million euros on Jude Bellingham and are counting on Mbappe to leave for free next summer. But then the sudden event of Karim Benzema to Saudi Arabia complicates everything. Suddenly, Real Madrid needed a striker this summer.
How does Real Madrid recruit Mbappe?
Last week, Perez promised fans that Mbappe would become a Madrisista in 2024. But then plans had to change when Benzema announced his departure. Harry Kane is an ideal name, but won’t come cheap – Tottenham are notoriously stingy negotiators.
So Madrid adjusted by purging the squad. Eden Hazard agreed to part ways with the Royal team, thereby saving the club millions of euros in salary. Benzema was among the top earners in Madrid and is gone too. The most recent is the case of Marco Asensio – to PSG, ironically – which also relieves pressure on the salary budget. Bellingham’s salary of 10 million euros a year is not a small number, but the situation could be much worse.
Even so, Mbappe is the highest paid player in Europe. While he will certainly suffer a pay cut when he leaves PSG, that doesn’t mean Mbappe will receive a cheap salary or accept much worse terms. There is reason to believe that this will change the face of Real Madrid.
Los Blancos has sold people, but may have to sell more. They will most likely target high-value names in midfield, especially Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde. Neither player is guaranteed to start next season and both are worth more than 70 million euros. Madrid wouldn’t like the idea of selling them, because both are incredibly talented. But if it happens, they will basically lose a famous player to bring in a world-class superstar.
This is a precedent. In 2013, Mesut Ozil, a top attacking midfielder, was sold to help Real Madrid raise money to recruit Gareth Bale – a player who was not a direct replacement for the German midfielder. The concept of loyalty and indispensability becomes invisible; that’s why it was suspected that they were suddenly accepted.
Real Madrid in the past was ready to push away the existing talents to bring in the top star
We are talking about a ruthless team. The Galactico of the past is over, but Real Madrid has not lost its taste for big signings. To do that, the Bernabeu team is ready to eliminate anyone they need.
QSI and PSG 2.0
If they receive a huge sum of money from Mbappe, PSG can start building something new. QSI’s project used to be built on pure star power. It started with a ridiculous €42 million for Javier Pastore in 2012, all the way to €60 million for Achraf Hakimi in 2021, as well as the huge salary awarded to Messi just a few weeks later.
But now, that model is falling apart. Messi is gone, Mbappe is on the verge of leaving Paris and so is Neymar. The charm of the French football team will disappear, in exchange for a huge amount of money. This suddenly helps them have an interesting new project. Randal Kolo Muani has been linked with PSG for some time, while there are plenty of young French players who would jump at the chance to play for the club.
In addition, if Julian Nagelsmann, a modern 35-year-old coach and likes to skate, agrees to lead PSG, things will become very interesting. QSI 2.0 won’t be sexy or dramatic, but it’s realistic.
The biggest stars have been brought to PSG, but they are still helpless in their search for success in Europe
That is the key issue that can change the face of PSG on the pitch. In the past 10 years, this team has bought the biggest stars and sold thousands of suits, but failed on the pitch. Everything is as ostentatious and exciting as possible – the things that make PSG fans
