2023-07-22 09:08:43
The Parisian club has dismissed its player from the Japan-Korea tour. PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi has given Mbappé until July 31 to decide on his future. Paris or Madrid?
One step from the abyss. According to the service of Radio France sports, Paris-SG striker Kylian Mbappé will not be on the Parisian tour of Japan and Korea, from July 24 to August 2. No one within the Parisian club gave reasons for the decision. It must therefore be understood that it comes from above, from very high up: Doha and the entourage of Sheikh Tamim ben Hamad Al Thani, who heads the emirate.
Kylian Mbappé “is for sale now”, writes the sports management of Radio France, confirming information from the newspaper l’Equipe.
We summarize. In June, the player indicated that he would go to the end of his current lease, that is to say until June 2024, without triggering the optional year relating to 2024-2025, which he had the power to activate at discretion. However, in July, Parisian President Nasser al-Khelaïfi reacted to the movement of the captain of the Blues: there was no question of letting the free player go because “it can’t be seen anywhere for players of this size”, on the one hand, and under a mysterious “verbal agreement”, on the other hand.
Reshuffled Cards
This last point seems debatable. In August 2021, Mbappé, who then wanted to join Real Madrid, had actually hinted in France Football that he did not want to leave free so that Paris-SG, who brought him in 2017 and supposedly grow as a player, finds himself there.
But it was a completely different context, prior to the extension of the sumptuous contract (the Parisian-Today in France speaks of nearly 200 million euros in salary per year if we smooth the bonuses) conceded by Doha in May 2020, which reshuffled the cards in the eyes of the player.
He also feels betrayed. Between late payments on one of the bonuses negotiated this fall, recruitment out of step with the promises made at the time of negotiations and the revelation of the troll farm affair degrading the player’s image on social networks under the sponsorship of club employees, Mbappé may have felt cheated, hence his decision – quickly taken it is true: less than two months after signing his new contract – not to activate the optional year in 2024-20 25.
As for not letting a player leave Paris-SG free, the facts say the opposite: you never leave Paris-SG when you are under contract as long as you are a leading player, Marco Verratti in 2016 or Neymar in 2019 having experienced it. Just like Mbappé in 2021, when Real Madrid had put some 200 million euros on the table to buy back only one year of contract.
Deadline July 31
It must be understood that the Parisian management and above it Doha, extremely aggressive on this file, leave the ultimate threat hovering: quite simply dismiss the long-term player if he refuses to extend beyond 2024. 9, expiry of his current contract.
A source at the club even assures that the entourage has hinted that Kylian Mbappé was ready to stay on the bench for a season if PSG does not play him.
According to information from Radio France, a deadline has been set for July 31 for Kylian Mbappé to extend with Paris and “the club will therefore discuss with its suitors from August 1, once its option to extend the contract has expired”.
A few weeks ago, the sidelining of a player like Mbappé, one of the best players on the planet, captain of the France team and with strong political support, still seemed fanciful. Doha has very precisely given some substance to this threat.
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