Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe had his heart set on a summer move to Real Madrid but he always knew he could go for free next year, which is why he has said it scared him when the French club's president said he'd never leave.
The Frenchman was keen to leave PSG over the summer and Los Blancos made a late push for him on transfer deadline day, though nothing was agreed with Real Madrid and Mbappe's current club.
Mbappe told L'Equipe and RMC in an interview: 'What could make me stay at PSG? We're far from it… since I wanted to leave Paris this summer. I'm not going to be the hypocrite, my ambition was clear. We will see what happens - my future is not my priority now
'I am attached to PSG, and if I had left this summer, it would have only been for Real Madrid.
"If I had left this summer, it would only have been for Real Madrid," he revealed.
"I thought my adventure here was over. I wanted something else. I'd been in Ligue 1 for six or seven years, I'd given everything to Paris and had done well. That was my thought, leaving was the next logical step."
'I continued playing in August and I had no problem with that. Why did I want to leave?
The 22-year-old France international, already widely regarded as one of the top players in the game, has revealed that PSG's attitude to his situation this past transfer window made him uncomfortable, but he only wanted what was best for all parties.
"It's scary when your president says 'he's never going to go for free'" Mbappe told RMC Sport.
"When I heard that, I swallowed hard and said to myself 'so what's going to happen here?"
Real Madrid's offers were no secret, and the forward admits to having felt some disappointment at not being able to get his move.
"I was a little [disappointed] at the time," Mbappe confessed. "When you want to leave, you're not happy if you stay.
"But I moved on quickly. Unfortunately I got injured with the national team. I went home uickly, had time to cry while I had no games, then I came back, scored, and did well again."
Despite his desire to leave the Parc des Princes, he was never willing to get into a feud with PSG.
"It would have been ungrateful," Mbappe said. "I wouldn't have thanked a club that welcomed me at 18 and gave me four great years.
"As well, I always want to play, to show that I'm a great player, and nothing affects me, not even a failed transfer. I can make a difference until my last day here."
PSG did not budge
The Parisian club were not for selling, even at a ridiculously high price and even though the player had only a year left on his contract. Many thought they might be better off cashing in, including the player himself.
"I asked to leave, because from the moment I did not want to extend [my contract], I wanted the club to have a transfer fee to find a quality replacement," said Mbappe.
"It is a club that has given me a lot, I have always been happy, the four years I spent here, and I am still happy. I announced it early enough ... I said, if you don't want me to leave, I'll stay."
The young attacker also wanted to clear up a couple of points surrounding the story, insisting that rumours of him turning down many offers from PSG are untrue, as is the club's assertion that he expressed his desire to leave late in the window.
"People have said that I refused six or seven offers of extension, that I do not want to talk to [sporting director] Leonardo, this is absolutely not true. They told me 'Kylian now you talk with the president'," said Mbappe.
"Personally, I did not appreciate the fact that they said I came [with the news he wanted to leave] the last week of August. I said at the end of July that I wanted to go."
Burnt bridges
If there was any doubt about Mbappe's future lying away from Paris, it would appear that all bridges have certainly been burnt now. The player feels he tried to do everything by the book but has been lied about and intimidated in response.
Whatever the PSG president thinks, it's hard to see how they could stop him from leaving or even convince him to stay now.
He added: 'This season you will never see behavior from me like "You guys didn’t let me go, I'm going to take it easy".
'I love football too much and I have too much respect for PSG, and for myself, to ease off even one match.'