Well, I didn’t think it would go this far. With Kylian Mbappe firmly resolute on not resigning with PSG beyond this season, the club have taken the first drastic step in this conflict by BLACKLISTING him from their Asia preseason tour.
There’s always some kind of drama going on in the French capital, but this really takes the cake.
Despite being the team’s leading goal scorer and the most marketable player in world football, PSG have completely blacklisted Kylian Mbappe by leaving him back in France as the club goes on their Asia preseason tour due to the striker’s reluctance to sign a new contract. And, even though I think this a really sad way for Mbappe and PSG’s relationship to end, it’s the only way to ensure he leaves the club.
As everyone knows by now, PSG and Kylian Mbappe really aren’t on the best of terms at the moment as the young mega star has made it clear he will NOT RESIGN a new deal once his current contract (which expires at the end of the season) ends, while PSG have made it clear they WILL NOT LET MBAPPE WALK FOR FREE come the Summer of 2024.
And that has been the position of the two sides for the last few months as they’ve been left in a standstill, waiting for the other to make the first move. And that’s exactly what has happened this weekend.
You hate to see a legend of a football club (which Mbappe already is for PSG despite his young age) and his said club have a heated, disrespectful divorce, but that’s really the only way PSG will manage to recuperate even a fracture of Mbappe’s monstrous transfer valuation this summer.
PSG needed to publicly and forcefully show the football world that Kylian Mbappe, despite his promise to play out his contract in the Parisian capital, IS FOR SALE and IS NOT APART of Paris St. Germain’s long-term or short-term plans so long as he refuses to sign a contract extension.
Now, I personally would not have ostracized one of the world’s best players and a club legend (he is already the team’s all-time leading scorer at just 23) as he is still signed for another season and brings 50+ goals guaranteed to any side he plays on, while the PSG side really only needs a few tweaks to become true Champions League contenders. And we all know PSG’s Qatari owners have more than enough cash to make that happen.
If I was PSG, I would have done everything I could this offseason to put together a contender that would be able to compete for both the Ligue 1 title, one of the French domestic cups, and a Champions League title all at the same time, which would hopefully convince Mbappe to stick around for another year or two. And if he didn’t, then PSG would still have a decent squad around Neymar to win major silverware.
But I guess the Qatari owners couldn’t be seen getting hoodwinked out of a massive transfer fee by letting Mbappe leave on a free for Real Madrid next summer after paying $180M for him six years ago. And I also understand that as Mbappe going behind PSG’s back and agreeing to personal terms with Real is a very big deal considering PSG and Madrid are rivals for the Champions League title.
Nevertheless, leaving Mbappe out of the squad complete kind of hurts their position too as now everyone in the world will know PSG desperately wants Mbappe gone…and they’ll offer shockingly low transfer fees to get him.
We’ll have to wait and see if this move actually convinces Mbappe to leave this summer, but I know for certain this is going to be a long, messy process.
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