Paris Saint-Germain's president has told Kylian Mbappe to sign a new deal or leave the club in an attempt to put pressure on the 24-year-old superstar. We all know, however, that it is Nasser Al-Khelaifi who'll be losing sleep.
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It's easy in hindsight to say the French captain should've left the Paris-based giants for Real Madrid last year, but that's the thing about Mbappe's dramatic ordeal – everyone, perhaps apart from PSG supporters, thought he was making the wrong decision as soon as he made it and it's turning out to be true.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup winner went incredibly close to joining Los Blancos as a free agent last year, in a contract saga that continued into the final week of the 2021/22 season. Mbappe was finally set to pen a mammoth contract with the club of his dreams, but, following a mass intervention from those on the PSG board and even France's president Emmanuel Macron, he extended his stay in Paris for a further two years as he became, at the time, the world's highest-paid footballer.
Interestingly, however, Mbappe has on many occasions talked about money being a non-factor for him. What's even more peculiar, though, is that Mbappe is reportedly set to earn a significant loyalty bonus later this year, as agreed upon in 2022. A loyalty bonus is the money a player collects towards or at the end of their deal as a reward for seeing out its full length. So, what Mbappe has done is communicate to PSG that he has no intention of extending his contract beyond 2024 while insisting publicly that he wants to still represent the club in the 2023/24 campaign, which, if that is to happen, would see him earn that lucrative bonus and leave PSG unable to sell him for a fee. That wouldn't just be a slap in the face, but a two-punch combination.
Following the unveiling of new manager Luis Enrique in Paris on Wednesday, Al-Khelaifi said he isn't interested in allowing Mbappe to part ways with this past season's league winners without a fee being involved, and that the forward will need to sign a new deal at the club or face being sold in this window. This has put the player in a tricky situation as the latest reports in Spain suggest that Real, who won their 14th European crown in May 2022 just hours after Mbappe announced he would be remaining in Ligue 1, will not be able to meet PSG's asking price after already spending €108.5 million (R2.2 billion) on three new arrivals earlier in this window.
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Mbappe now appears to be at risk of being backed into a corner and forced to commit to new terms to avoid being treated like Adrien Rabiot was in the 2018/19 season, when he informed the club of his wish to leave as a free agent. Rabiot was sent to the stands, made to watch his team from the sidelines for the final six months of his deal all because PSG didn't welcome his desire for a new challenge. Mbappe, however, isn't Rabiot. He is the player the club has in the past rejected mind-numbing amounts of money for, even after he entered the final six months of his contract. He is France's golden child, the superstar whose influence in his country is so great that even the government step in when it's deemed necessary. Al-Khelaifi, though, says nobody is bigger than the club, but we'll find out soon enough if he actually believes that.
By @KurtLaduma
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