Paris Saint-Germain have left Kylian Mbappe out of their travelling squad for their pre-season tour of Japan and have put the France captain up for sale.
The development is the latest escalation in the transfer saga and follows Mbappe’s decision not to extend his contract, which runs until 2024, by a further year.
The French champions have now taken the view that Mbappe intends to leave PSG on a free transfer for Real Madrid next summer, and are now planning without him.
Mbappe has had initial interest from teams in the Saudi Pro League in what would be a world record transfer fee, but there is no current indication that the forward is interested in signing for any other club other than Madrid.
The 24-year-old featured and scored in his side’s pre-season victory over Le Havre earlier today, but will not travel with the squad to Japan tomorrow. All six of PSG’s new signings, and Kylian Mbappe’s younger brother Ethan, 16, have been included in the squad.
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Mbappe’s omission from the pre-season tour squad is the latest development in a saga that has dominated recent transfer windows in the French capital.
Mbappe signed a new contract last summer, which would run until 2024 but included the option of a one-year contract extension that only he could trigger. Last month, he informed PSG that he would not be exercising that option — but intended to stay for this coming season.
PSG then responded by setting Mbappe a deadline of July 31st to clarify his future, in a letter written to the forward earlier this month. The club say they asked the player to clarify his position by July 15th, however, after no communication from Mbappe or his camp this week, they have decided he is intent on leaving the club for free in the summer of 2024, for Real Madrid, and have therefore decided to plan without him under new manager Luis Enrique.
The club are now open to selling Mbappe and are willing to listen to offers for the forward. The club are also said to be willing to bench Mbappe this season if he does not finalise a move to another club this summer.
The French club, who insist they are confident in their legal position on the situation, are expected to accept considerably less than the €180m they spent to sign the player in 2017 if they sell Mbappe to a European rival.
As we have seen all summer, however, the Saudi Premier League is prepared to spend almighty sums to tempt players and PSG have had initial interest from a Saudi club in a deal for Mbappe, with the state-backed project proposing to pay a world-record fee this summer to extract Mbappe from Europe, yet PSG recognise, at this stage at least, that Mbappe has not demonstrated any inclination to go anywhere else but Real Madrid.
GO DEEPER
Kylian Mbappe’s state of play at Paris Saint-Germain - a high-stakes game of poker
(Photo: Getty Images)
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