According to L’Équipe, the Parisian side have drawn up a plan in case he does not renew. Mbappé could decide his future before February.
The outcome of the Kylian Mbappé story could be resolved before the Champions League tie against Real Sociedad, which kicks off on 14 February, as reported by L’Équipe. The player, who confirmed in the mixed zone after winning the Super Cup that “it would not make sense to drag out the decision like in 2022”, until May, does not want the same scenario as two years ago to focus solely and exclusively on the upcoming competitions, including the European Cup.
PSG, meanwhile, have already drawn up a plan if Mbappé finally decides not to renew. Optimism still reigns in Paris, but the club, since the summer, has been armouring itself against a hypothetical scenario in which the club’s all-time top scorer decides to pack his bags. As the striker confirmed, in August he agreed with Al Khelaïfi to defer his loyalty bonuses, so the Parisian club is financially protected and would not suffer a grievance if he leaves for free.
Sources close to the club are confident about the future of the France captain and argue that it is Mbappé who “has the cards on the table”. As was the case in the summer, the former Monaco player’s future is in his own hands, while PSG plan to sit down in the coming weeks to start negotiations for a contract extension, albeit without the rush and nerves that were the order of the day in the May 2022 talks.
The Bondy star’s idea, according to L’Équipe, is not to prolong a soap opera that has been at the epicentre of French football every summer for five years. “I haven’t made a decision yet, nobody at the club is talking about it, it’s a subject that doesn’t interest me,” he admitted last Wednesday in the mixed zone after winning the Super Cup with Toulouse. It remains to be seen whether he will publicly announce his decision, as announcing that he is leaving in June before the Champions League play-offs could generate a heated atmosphere in Paris.
Another factor that PSG are banking on is their relationship with Al Khelaïfi. In the summer, the Qatari president issued Mbappé with an ultimatum, saying he would not return to Paris if he did not renew or accept a transfer. On 12 August, however, a private meeting at the Parc des Princes between the two sides changed everything. Kylian was readmitted to the first-team dynamic and the two signed an agreement in which he waived loyalty bonuses so that, in the event of non-renewal, the club would have room for manoeuvre.
The relationship, according to sources consulted, between Al Khelaïfi and Mbappé is currently more than cordial and that is one of the factors PSG is clinging to in an attempt to sign a renewal deal, which in any case would be long-term and not for two seasons, as in 2022. The Qatari president, likewise, has already drawn up a roadmap in case his star player leaves for Real Madrid. “Nobody is above the institution,” he repeated in the summer, so it is perceived that Mbappé’s departure would mark the end of an era in Paris, ushering in a new project in which young players would be at the epicentre of all operations.
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