Paris Saint-Germain plans to move on from Kylian Mbappé sooner rather than later. (REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri)
The next team Kylian Mbappé plays for won’t be Paris Saint-Germain. The Ligue 1 club made that abundantly clear this week when the team left Mbappé off its summer roster and signaled to the rest of the soccer world its intention to move on from the French star.
And now, like so many other high-profile players before him this summer, Mbappé has been targeted by a Saudi Arabian club, according to multiple reports.
Al-Hilal, who lost the Lionel Messi sweepstakes to MLS’s Inter Miami, reportedly offered Mbappé a €400 million contract (around $445.3 million) and would pay a €200 million fee (around $222.5 million) to PSG, per French journalist Fabrice Hawkins. PSG will reportedly accept this deal if Mbappe doesn’t agree to a contract extension by July 31, per Hawkins.
Al-Hilal is also reportedly willing to let Mbappé leave for Real Madrid in 2024, the club he’s been most linked to for the past several years.
Now, Mbappé could always reject the move to Saudi Arabia if accepted by PSG. He’s still under contract with PSG until next summer, when he said he would leave the club. But PSG doesn’t want Mbappé to leave for free. That’s why it’s trying to find another club to transfer Mbappé to before his contract ends.
But if he were to join Al-Hilal, he’d immediately become the face of the league. Other stars like fellow Frenchman Karim Benzema and former Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo already play in Saudi Arabia, and the kingdom’s Public Wealth Fund will reportedly spend billions of dollars propping up the country’s top soccer league.
PSG has until the summer transfer window ends Sept. 1 at 11 p.m. ET to find a partner or wait until the winter window opens Jan. 1, 2024. If they don’t move him, a report from ESPNFC indicates the club will sit Mbappé rather than play him and risk worsening his transfer fee value for the next window.
More than likely, other clubs will come out of the woodwork in an attempt to snag the winger. Real Madrid is the biggest and most likely name, but it also appears to have the lead in wooing Mbappé if and when he becomes a free agent next summer. Chelsea is reportedly another club interested in Mbappé, per Hawkins.
Nothing will change unless Mbappé clears it, though. So while PSG plans his exit, it’s on Mbappé to decide his own immediate fate — or wait a year.
