Liverpool, Chelsea blown out of water as PSG accept €1bn record deal which would break football
Paris Saint-Germain have accepted a ludicrous record-shattering bid from Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal for Real Madrid and Liverpool target Kylian Mbappe.
After spending six years at the Parc des Princes, winning 12 trophies and becoming the club’s all-time highest goalscorer, Mbappe seems destined to leave PSG this summer.
Mbappe was left out of the club’s travelling party for their tour of the Far East and put on the transfer list amid fears that he plans to allow his contract to run down before joining Real Madrid for free.
READ MORE: Kylian Mbappe auction is a neon acid trip where logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
With a single year remaining on his deal, Mbappe must be sold in either of the next two transfer windows for PSG to extract any sort of fee for a player they paid £166m to sign in 2018.
But the prohibitive costs involved in any deal to capture the 24-year-old have severely restricted his options to a very select few.
Liverpool are thought to have made Real Madrid ‘tremble’ with a ‘super offer’ for Mbappe, a player they have been linked with numerous times over the past few years.
There is reported interest from Arsenal, who could entice PSG with a part-exchange involving Gabriel Martinelli.
Man Utd have been mentioned as a club PSG ‘know’ will move for Mbappe, with even Spurs thrown into the equation as a name that has come up during negotiations over Harry Kane.
Yet it seems as though the likeliest destination for Mbappe – at least in the immediate short term – could be Saudi Arabia.
The widespread belief that Mbappe has his heart set on ultimately joining Real could play in the favour of Al-Hilal, who are open to taking the Frenchman for just a season if possible.
Fabrizio Romano has exclusively confirmed that a ‘formal bid’ has been made to sign Mbappe in a package ‘worth €300m’ to PSG.
That would represent a world-record transfer, eclipsing the €200m PSG spent to sign Neymar in 2017.
There have been no talks between Al-Hilal and Mbappe as yet over personal terms, but The Athletic have confirmed that PSG have granted permission for those discussions to take place.
READ MORE: Kylian Mbappe’s next club: Real Madrid, Saudi, Man Utd or another Prem side?
CBS Sports journalist James Benge has confirmed that PSG have unsurprisingly accepted the bid, before reporting on some of the ludicrous details Mbappe can be expected to have waved under his nose, including ‘a salary package of €700m over one year’ – meaning Al-Hilal are looking to spend €1billion for a whole year of one footballer.
In terms of the wage alone, that is: £50.39m a month, £11.63m a week, £1.65m a day, £69,034 an hour, £1,150 a minute and £19.17 a second.
Or, in a sentence: really quite stupid money. For one year. Of one footballer.
Al-Hilal – or indeed any Saudi club which manages to sign Mbappe – would obviously prefer to sign the 24-year-old to a multi-year deal, but the pull of Real is almost certain to mean any move, if one transpires, must allow the France captain to join Real if he still so wishes in 2024.
Miguel Delaney of The Independent referred to Al-Hilal’s offer as giving ‘all parties a potential out with even a one-year deal that could see Mbappe earn €700k for a season’.
He has also reported that Chelsea ‘are among the clubs to have considered a move, but the feeling is the price would be too high and that it would take a lot to convince Mbappe anyway.’
