Real Madrid only have to wait for Mbappe to not renew his PSG contract

Kylian Mbappe has long been a player of interest for many of Europe's elite clubs, but after Paris Saint-Germain signed him for 180 million euros that door appeared closed. Now, Real Madrid only have to wait for the Frenchman to refuse to renew his contract with the Parisians.

Los Blancos believe they are in a prime position to sign the World Cup winner, especially after the former vice-president of Monaco, Vadim Vasilyev, confirmed that Mbappe's dream was always to play for the Spanish giants.

PSG are aware that Mbappe is heading into the final two years of a contract which expires in June 2022, and as such he is in the danger zone for a club that knows a player may rather play elsewhere.

The French champions plan to offer the 20-year-old a contract extension worth around 40 million euros per season, a wage that would give him parity with Neymar at the Parc des Princes.

However, there are no guarantees that Mbappe will take the offer and accept it, especially in the footballing era we're currently living in for the truly elite players.

Transfer fees have reached an inordinately high level following Neymar's 222 million euro arrival in Paris, and clubs simply don't have the desire or the funds to purchase players in the truly elite bracket.

What was once a 60 million euro player is now a 110 million euro player, and the scale only moves upwards, therefore it's little surprise to see a figure of 300 million euros being mentioned with regard to Los Merengues' pursuit of Mbappe.

However, if a player makes it clear he will not sign a renewal, then he holds all the power; he can choose where he wants to go. This leaves his current club with a decision to make on selling him early just to ensure they don't lose a valuable asset for nothing.

Mbappe is in a particular strong position in that his reputation is secure, given that he has many years ahead of him and he has already proven himself to be able to cope with pressure at the highest level.

Many players worry about suffering an injury when contemplating running down their contract, but Mbappe would have an extraordinary amount of offers, even if that happened to him.

Real Madrid are waiting in the shadows, and the pursuit started with Zinedine Zidane publicly acknowledging that it was Mbappe's dream to play for the club.

They know Mbappe doesn't plan to sign a contract extension, with PSG having already made multiple early moves to tie the forward down past 2022, and all were rebuffed.

Even though Florentino Perez and his colleagues love Mbappe as a player, there isn't necessarily evidence to suggest they have 300 or even 400 million euros spare to complete his signature.

They know they will have to wait, with there being only a small number of scenarios where it's feasible for Mbappe to join Real Madrid.

There is the aforementioned Bosman option, where Mbappe allows his contract to run down and leave for virtually nothing as a 23-year-old in June 2022.

Real Madrid are also aware that an outright refusal to sign a contract extension may put the French club in a position where they feel they have to sell, or there is actually a contract extension with a separate buyout clause included.

Now this final option would be particularly tricky with buyout clauses actually prohibited by LFP rules in France, although as long as it was a separate binding agreement between the player and his club, there would be a way to set an amount by which they would have to allow the player to speak to a buying club if their offer hits that mark.

Real Madrid need a natural goalscorer, and a prolific one at that, but even though those in power trust Rodrygo Goes and Vinicius Junior a lot, they value Mbappe above everything and will play the waiting game in order to sign him and not damage their working relationship with PSG.