Paris Saint-Germain appear set to accelerate Kylian Mbappé’s exit from the club.
Mbappé has been left out of the squad that will travel to Japan for a pre-season tour and PSG are reportedly looking to sell Mbappé this summer before he can leave the squad for free in the summer of 2024.
Mbappé has one year left on his contract with PSG and has said he will not sign an extension. This means that PSG should sell him this summer if they want to get a transfer fee and, according to Fabrizio Romano, the club are ready to do so.
According to ESPNFC, PSG “even consider never playing their star striker again”. Mbappé has become football’s most dynamic goalscorer and has led the French Ligue 1 in goals for the past five seasons and played and scored in the team’s friendly win against Le Havre on Friday.
Real Madrid have been mentioned as the likeliest destination for Mbappe if and when he leaves PSG after previous efforts to acquire him. It should be noted that Madrid haven’t made a big signing this summer and need a starting striker with the departure of Karim Benzema in the Saudi league. While Madrid would probably be content to get Mbappé for free next summer, they also have plenty of resources to acquire him this summer, even if the transfer fee is well over $100m just to get him a year early.
If Mbappé leaves this summer for Real Madrid or another club, PSG will enter the season without at least two of their three star strikers from a season ago. PSG teamed up with Mbappé and Neymar with Lionel Messi following the Argentine star’s departure from Barcelona following the 2020-21 season. But the Champions League glory the side were chasing with their star trio failed to materialize in both seasons as the side’s defensive fragility was exposed to tougher European competition.
Mbappé, it must be said, was one of the reasons for this defensive fragility. Although he’s incredibly dynamic offensively – just look at how he turned the World Cup final against Messi’s Argentina in no time – his defensive effort can be non-existent. However, that wouldn’t be as much of an issue in a much more balanced team like Real Madrid.