Kylian Mbappe could be benched or left out of PSG’s matchday squad entirely for the start of the new season, as Real Madrid weigh up an approach for the France superstar.
PSG embarked on their pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea without Mbappe, following the revelation that he did not intend to extend his contract beyond next summer – and the 24-year-old’s future looks no closer to being resolved.
Now, transfer supremo Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on the Ligue 1 giants’ potential next move with regards to their top asset.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano explained: “There are rumours PSG [are] preparing to bench [Mbappe] for the first games of the season, or to exclude him for the first game of the season and also to keep with Kylian Mbappe not training with the main squad and working with the players who are excluded by PSG.”
Mbappe has been training with PSG’s so-called ‘undesirables’ – a group of players not seen as part of the first-team picture, including Julian Draxler, Leandro Paredes and Georginio Wijnaldum.
Romano added: “What I’m told is that the decision on Kylian Mbappe and how to arrange his daily work on the training ground will be made early next week – probably on Monday – but, at the same time, the tension remains.”
PSG believe that Mbappe wants to run down his contract and join Real Madrid as a free agent next summer – a situation they are determined to avoid, as evidenced by their accepting a world-record €300m bid from Al-Hilal last month, not that the 2018 World Cup winner was interested in a switch to Saudi Arabia.
Romano continued: “In recent days, PSG have been trying to include a specific clause for summer 2024. So, basically, what PSG did in a secret way a few days and also a few weeks ago was to propose to Kylian Mbappe a contract to extend with PSG but also to include a kind of buy-out clause to pick his new club in summer 2024 and leave for that amount. That was, for PSG, the best solution to offer to Kylian Mbappe, but the player said no again.”
As for whether Real will make a move for Mbappe this summer, Romano says we’ll just have to wait and see.
More transfer stories
Transfer news is coming thick and fast as we head towards the final few weeks of the summer window.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has just joined Marseille – and he took one last swipe at former club Chelsea as he was unveiled by the Ligue 1 outfit.
Meanwhile, Manchester United will reportedly rival Liverpool for the signature of Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia.
And Arsenal could offload Thomas Partey on the eve of the new Premier League season.
