Kylian Mbappé fought the club and the club won… or so it seems. Insistent that he would neither leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer nor sign an extension, tying him to the club until 2025, the France captain now looks set to do the latter.
After a tense summer, a solution to the Mbappé saga now looks close to being found. It has been an affair that has polluted the club’s preparations and has seeped into the defence of their Ligue 1 title. At the start of the summer, Mbappé sent a letter to the club’s hierarchy, informing them that he wouldn’t be triggering the one-year extension on his contract, meaning that he could subsequently leave Les Parisiens on a free the following summer.
The reasons for Mbappé’s decision were initially obscure. Speaking to the media ahead of France’s Euros qualifier against Gibraltar in June, the AS Monaco academy product reiterated his desire to remain with PSG for the 2023/24 season, but also publically confirmed that he wouldn’t extend until 2025. “I know why I’m doing this,” said a tight-lipped Mbappé.
Mbappé’s stance drew a fierce response from PSG. Seeking to curb the player power culture that has dominated the club during much of the QSI era, PSG took a hardline stance: extend or be sold. Unfortunately, neither of those options was to Mbappé’s liking.
The Frenchman was determined to see out his contract, with the view to joining Real Madrid in the summer of 2024, at least that is what was believed within the club. The reason(s) behind Mbappé’s unbreakable determination to remain at the club are reported to be financial. Remaining with Les Parisiens would allow him to collect a considerable loyalty bonus, which according to RMC Sport is worth €90m. There is then the not-so-trivial signing-on bonus should he join Real Madrid on a free transfer. Avoiding paying a fee to PSG would have facilitated a lucrative payday for Mbappé and his entourage.
PSG were unwavering throughout the summer, their stance did not change, and despite an appearance in a pre-season friendly against Le Havre, the next day, he was omitted from the club’s pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea. Still, nothing changed. Tensions between Mbappé and Nasser Al-Khelaifi reportedly grew to the point that the pair were no longer on speaking terms.
The club president was, however, forced to reach out to Mbappé, although these interactions have been described by Le Parisien as “animated” due to the unwavering and disparate positions that the duo held. Al Khelaifi even warned Mbappé of the consequences of a free transfer from the club, which included a “wave of redundancies.”
The start of the season arrived and Mbappé was still absent. He was still in the “loft,” training with PSG’s “undesirables” but still seemingly content, still with a smile on his face, and still happy to interact with fans outside the club’s new training centre.
Mbappé was absent from the squad to face Lorient in PSG’s first match of the season, but it was sat in the stands of the Parc des Princes, alongside new recruit Ousmane Dembélé, whose signing he had praised, that a shift in discourse was first detected. Mid-game, L’Équipe revealed that there had been a softening of stances and that Mbappé and Al Khelaifi were back on talking terms.
According to France Bleu’s Bruno Salomon, it is Mbappé who instigated the contact with Al Khelaifi. Having missed the first match of the season that leads into the Olympics and Euro 2024, had Mbappé blinked first, or is there more to the saga than meets the eye?
Mbappé’s stance had changed – that much is obvious. The reason for this change of heart may lie in PSG’s actions this summer. According to Le Parisien, Mbappé felt “betrayed” by the club’s transfer dealings last summer. From his point of view, promises weren’t kept, Robert Lewandowski never arrived, and the ambition displayed when he agreed to sign the deal back in 2022, had not manifested itself in concrete action in the transfer window.
The same cannot be said this summer. Mbappé was pleased with the signing of compatriot Dembélé, whilst the big-money arrival of Gonçalo Ramos is further evidence of PSG delivering on promises that they made over a year ago. Mbappé was reportedly prepared for a “Saison Blanche,” a whole year on the sidelines, and it seemingly isn’t through his ostracisation that his stance has evolved, but rather PSG’s own evolution on delivering on the ambitious project that was sold to the France captain. Perhaps neither PSG nor Mbappé had to blink after all – the conditions of the initial agreement simply needed to be met.
The latest Mbappé saga, the second in the space of just over 12 months, is consequently on the verge of a resolution. However, with reports of a release clause set to be included in Mbappé’s new deal, which will run into 2025, it is still expected that he will leave for Real Madrid next summer, just not on a free. The volatile Mbappé-PSG union will endure for one more year, not least because of Los Blancos’ unwillingness to financially bolster the “enemy” PSG. It will be Real Madrid’s stance that will have to alter next year if Mbappé is to earn that much-anticipated move to the Bernabéu.