Kylian Mbappe’s situation at Paris Saint-Germain looks to be coming to a head this summer. The 24-year-old has recently stated his intention to leave the French champions as a free agent next summer once his contract expires.
However, PSG have no intention of letting this happen, which was made clear by Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the club’s chairman. He stated that they will look to sell Mbappe this summer if he does not sign a new contract within the next couple of weeks.
Real Madrid are carefully watching the situation. They would prefer to secure a pre-contract agreement with Mbappe in January, which would see him join for free next summer, although they may be forced to splash out in the next few weeks instead.
However, French football expert Jonathan Johnson told CaughtOffside that he believes that Real Madrid will get their wish.
“While I can understand PSG not wanting to lose Mbappe on a free transfer – no one would want to lose a player of his quality for nothing – but, equally, it reflects how desperate PSG were to tie Mbappe down and keep him out of Real Madrid’s clutches just over 12 months ago.
“I still stand by what I’ve said before – I see Mbappe seeing out this season at PSG and leaving after the Olympics in 2024, that’s always seemed the logical finishing point for his story in France. It’s now just a question of which side caves in first.
“I think if he was going to move to Real Madrid this summer then I’m not sure they’d have already spent as much as they have on someone like Jude Bellingham. I still see Mbappe playing out the next season with PSG and then Real Madrid coming back to the table for him in the summer of 2024, whether he’s a free agent by then or not.”
Real Madrid would dearly love to sign Mbappe, especially on a free transfer, and that could become a reality very soon, although it could also not happen until next summer.
