The future of Kylian Mbappe is a hot topic and the forward is reported to be a player in Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani's sights should he be successful in acquiring Manchester United.
After months and months of speculation and various reports, Qatari Sheikh Jassim and British petrochemicals billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe have been battling it out to secure a full takeover from the Glazer family. With it still not confirmed who is the preferred bidder in the race, US banking firm the Raine Group have been leading talks of the sale with it thought most recently Ratcliffe's offer of a 69% stake in the club that would see the Glazers remain at Old Trafford in some aspect.
Sheikh Jassim's bid is very different from Ratcliffe's. The Qatar bid would see Sheikh Jassim take over United completely and therefore the Glazers would finally depart Old Trafford after purchasing the club in 2005 through a leveraged buyout which heaped hundreds of millions of pounds worth of debt upon the club.
The Qatari's approach would be to wipe out the debt currently loaded on United and invest heavily, promising to fund improvements to the club, including financing improvements to Old Trafford and Carrington. It remains to be seen which approach is successful, if either of them of course are deemed acceptable by the Glazers.
READ MORE: United takeover latest - when Raine Group could deliver final decision on preferred bidder
According to a report in the Daily Express in May, Mbappe is said to be one of the players in his sights to bring to United if his bid to take over at Old Trafford is successful. The France international is one of the best players in the world, and United are also seeking a striker this summer.
The 24-year-old is at Paris Saint-Germain, where he has been since moving from Monaco in 2018. He has gone on to score 212 goals in 260 games for PSG, winning the French first division on five occasions, and has also won the World Cup with France.
However, United are likely to face competition for Mbappe if he does leave PSG. One place where he has been heavily linked with moving to in recent seasons has been Real Madrid.
The Santiago Bernabeu side have a long history of attracting the best players in the world in the prime of their careers. Moreover, Real are in need of another centre forward this summer following the departure of Karim Benzema.
Mbappe looked set to sign for Los Blancos last year, only to then sign a contract extension at Paris Saint-Germain. However, it seems the Spanish giants have not yet given up hope of recruiting the French forward.
And Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is confident of signing Kylian Mbappe, though admitted he does not expect a deal to be done this year. Asked by a fan in the street if Real are going to sign Mbappe, the 76-year-old responded: “Yes, but not this year.”
Mbappe's contract at PSG is due to run until the summer of 2025 as things stand. Should Perez's wish come to fruition, he would be signing Mbappe when he has just a year to go on his deal.
A Manchester Evening News special souvenir edition - Fergie's First - charts United's 1992/93 title-winning campaign and you can get your hands on one here
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