Mbappé’s split with PSG ends in a battle of words

The biggest football soap of the summer may have just begun.

A day after news broke that Kylian Mbappé, the French star of Paris St.-Germain, had told the club in a letter that he would not extend his contract beyond 2024, Mbappé broke his silence.

In a statement and on social media, Mbappé said his decision not to renew his contract was communicated to PSG last summer, a statement immediately rejected by the club. And on social media, Mbappé denied a report in the French newspaper that he wants to join Real Madrid this summer, calling such a suggestion “lies.”

He was, he wrote on Twitter, “very happy” at the club.

By then, however, the player and his star were engaged in a contentious and very public back-and-forth.

PSG officials had secretly expressed shock and surprise on Monday after receiving the letter saying Mbappé would be leaving the club next summer, which was leaked to French news media before it arrived at the club’s offices. The team believed it had made progress in negotiating a new multi-year contract, according to an executive familiar with the negotiations and not authorized to discuss the sensitive talks publicly.

But in a statement sent to France’s national news agency on Mbappé’s behalf, the player’s representatives denied that a contract extension had been negotiated, saying the letter was merely a written confirmation of what Mbappé had told the club a year ago, less than a year ago. two months after signing his current nine-figure contract. The club then knew, Mbappé’s side said, that he would not exercise his option to stay with the team for a third year, despite holding up a team jersey with the year “2025” printed on the back . at his signing ceremony.

The club made no public statements about Mbappé or his plans on Monday. But after his claim that he never talked about extending his contract, it came with a curt answer. “It is emphatically untrue to say that Mbappé’s team has not been involved in any extension discussions,” said a club spokesperson.

The widening rift between Mbappé, one of the world’s most famous athletes, and the club, one of the richest teams in European football, could lead to an endgame that PSG had hoped to avoid: Mbappé’s departure from Paris, his hometown, perhaps as soon as this summer.

But as was the case during a similar spell last summer, the possibility remains that player and club could still reconcile – but only if he agrees to change his stance and sign a contract extension.

Mbappé’s statement said his intention was to stay in Paris for the final year of his current contract before moving on. But the statement also raised unanswered questions, including why the letter was signed and dated July 15, 2022, the day he said he verbally informed the club of his intentions, but only delivered it to the club this week.

It also ensured that Mbappé’s club status will be the talk of the town for a second summer in a row.

Last year, it took the personal intervention of France’s President Emmanuel Macron to finally convince Mbappé to commit to Paris for at least a few more years. Now the club is playing out possible outcomes: should it sell Mbappé’s playing rights immediately, rather than risk losing him as a free agent next year for nothing? Or can it find a way to convince a club to pay a substantial transfer fee now to secure the promise of Mbappé’s signature once his PSG contract expires?

What is inconceivable, at least from PSG’s perspective, is that the club will receive nothing for a player it has invested more than $500 million in since his arrival in 2017. Last year, PSG paid a signing bonus of more than $100 million to his new seal contract. Now club officials fear Mbappé has already given his word to Real Madrid that he will sign with the Spanish club.

Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez did little to quell that paranoia this week when he responded positively to a fan question whether the Spanish club would sign Mbappe. Pérez replied that Madrid would chase the French star, “but not this year.”

For now, Mbappé has reiterated in his statement that he intends to stay in Paris for one more season.

“Having publicly maintained in recent weeks that he would be a PSG player next season, Kylian Mbappé did not ask to leave this summer and has just confirmed to the club that he would not activate the extra year,” the statement said. Mbappé attributed statement. and its representatives.

The French news media’s publication of the letter before the club received it, the statement said, had “the sole purpose of damaging their image and discussions with the club”.

PSG had expected Mbappé to move eventually, and club officials knew – given his stated affinity for Real Madrid – that any negotiations to extend his contract may have failed. But the club did not expect its intentions to be made public through Monday’s letter, said the management who are familiar with the talks between the club and the player. The director said PSG chairman, Nasser al-Khelaifi, had discussed the matter with Mbappé’s mother, Fayza Lamari, and that other club executives had contacted Mbappé directly. But there was little clarity on what had happened, only confirmation of the player’s intention to leave.