Mbappe will stay one more season at PSG

Kylian Mbappe
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Football star Kylian Mbappe wants to stay at Paris St-Germain for now but says he will not extend his contract beyond 2024.

The 24-year-old France forward’s deal expires after next season, with the option of another year.

Today he tweeted he “will continue” at PSG, but a letter from his camp said next season would be his last at the club.

Mbappe says PSG were first told on 15 July, 2022 of his decision to reject the extension.

Official correspondence has followed to that effect this week, with Mbappe saying the “only aim of the letter was to confirm what had already been spoken about”.

However, PSG are prepared to sell their record goalscorer this summer rather than risk losing him for free in a year’s time.

Mbappe said reports he wants to join Real Madrid this summer were “lies”.

His camp told the AFP news agency the possibility of extending his contract “has not been discussed since [he informed PSG last year] over the course of the year, except a fortnight ago to announce the sending of the letter”.

“No potential contract extension has been mentioned,” they added.

“After maintaining publicly in recent weeks that he would be a PSG player next season, Kylian Mbappe has not asked to leave this summer and has just confirmed to the club that he would not be activating the extra year.”

If Mbappe is sold this summer, Real Madrid are long-time admirers of the Frenchman, although he rejected a move to the Bernabeu to stay at PSG last year.

The exit of Karim Benzema to Saudi Arabia means Real need a striker, but it was thought Tottenham’s Harry Kane was top of their list.

Mbappe, who joined PSG in 2017 initially on loan from Monaco before a $316m move, has scored 212 goals in 260 games.

He has 38 goals in 68 games for France, including a hat-trick in last year’s World Cup final in Qatar, as France lost to Argentina on penalties.

Mbappe finished as Ligue 1’s top scorer in each of the past five seasons and has won five league titles in his six seasons at PSG.

PSG ended 2022-23 with just the Ligue 1 title after once again failing to win the Champions League, losing to Bayern Munich in the last 16.

Mbappe would be the second high-profile forward to depart Parc des Princes this summer, after Argentina forward Lionel Messi left at the end of his two-year contract to join Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami.

Neymar, the third member of PSG’s superstar frontline last season, has been linked with a big-money move to Saudi Arabia.

-BBC