At the end of the current campaign, Kylian Mbappe has informed Paris Saint-Germain that he is leaving the team.
According to two people with knowledge of the matter who spoke to The Associated Press, the France international notified PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi that he would not be staying at the team once his contract expired.
Since Mbappe hasn't yet made his decision public, both individuals talked under the condition of anonymity.
According to one source, Mbappe—whom Real Madrid has previously courted—did not specify which team he would play for next.
PSG remained silent, but a second source with knowledge of Mbappe's decision claimed that the
conditions of his exit were still being hammered out with the team and no formal announcement
would be made until they were.
After seven years with PSG, Mbappe, who is regarded as one of the best players in the world, will
become a free agent at the end of the current campaign.
He told the team last year that he would not be signing a contract extension through 2022.
Although the contract was actually for until 2024 with an option for an additional year, PSG paraded
him at Parc des Princes when he signed that final agreement, holding up a jersey with the year 2025
printed on it. According to reports, Mbappe was displeased with the incident and felt let down by the
team for not signing more elite players—aside from Lionel Messi—despite what they had promised to
accomplish when he signed the contract.
Although Madrid appears to be mbappe's most likely destination, many other teams hoping to recruit
the former World Cup winner is expected to engage in a bidding war when he leaves PSG.
The 25-year-old Mbappe joined PSG in 2017 following a reported $190 million trade from Monaco. He
arrived concurrently with Neymar, who left Barcelona for PSG for a record-breaking $222 million.
Real Madrid made a $190 million offer for the forward in 2021, but PSG rejected it. The player signed
his current deal the following year.
After Messi and Neymar left the French club last year, Mbappe will be the most high-profile player to
exit in recent memory. The brilliant attacking trio competed together for two seasons, but neither year
did they go past the quarterfinals of the Champions League, as PSG was defeated by Real Madrid and
then Bayern Munich in the final sixteen.
With PSG, Mbappe won five French league championships, but he hasn't been able to help the team win
the Champions League yet. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, PSG advanced to the championship
game but lost 1-0 to Bayern because neither Mbappe nor Neymar could have an influence.
By taking home the top honor in European club soccer this year, Mbappe may still end his career on a
positive note. In the first leg of PSG's round of 16 match against Real Sociedad on Wednesday, he scored
a goal that extended his club record to 243 goals in just 290 games, including 38 in the Champions League.
He ranks third on PSG's all-time list with 93 assists.
With his choice, Mbappe ends a protracted story that had darkened his last season with the team.
A protracted transfer standoff last summer nearly brought an end to his PSG career. He was forced to
practice with periphery players after notifying the club he would not be renewing his contract for an
additional year. He was also left off of a preseason tour to South Korea and Japan. PSG stated that it
would rather sell him than allow him to go for free in 2024, but Mbappe turned down a 300 million euro
offer from Al-Hilal, a Saudi team.
The standoff continued as Mbappe was left out of PSG's opening league match of the season, a boring
0-0 home stalemate that he watched from the stands. However, PSG soon gave in and allowed him to
return to the starting lineup.
Mbappe has occasionally shown his obvious dissatisfaction with the team both on and off the field.
He appeared to be upset at being utilized as a lone center forward when he preferred to play behind a
striker like France teammate Olivier Giourd, according to a snarky remark he wrote following a scoreless
tie early in the previous season. He punned the word pivot (target man) in his Instagram post, #pivotgang,
which was later removed.
Mbappe hasn't always been a club favorite, despite his outstanding scoring record.
Given his declared goal of winning the Champions League and Ballon d'Or title several times, some
supporters questioned why he stayed at all. He didn't win with PSG either.
Since PSG has already taken steps to refocus its efforts in the last 12 months due to the departures of
Neymar and Messi, it's possible that they anticipated this moment.
Following their takeover by Qatar Sports Investments in June 2011, PSG's fortunes improved following
years of issues with soccer violence and on-field failures. With some of the biggest stars in the game,
such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mbappe, Neymar, and Messi, PSG dominated French soccer for the most
part. But since last year, when it signed Bradley Barcola and Randal Kolo Muani, it has started to move
away from that paradigm.
Madrid has long thought of Mbappe as the perfect replacement for Karim Benzema, who left the Spanish
powerhouse to join Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia last year.
Mbappe will leave a huge hole at PSG, so it will be interesting to see whether they can find someone to
replace him.
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