PSG Ready To Accept €1 billion Mbappe Package From Al-Hilal: Reports

Al-Hilal have submitted a formal bid of €300 million ($332 million) for Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe according to transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano, with a similar report published by The Athletic in quick succession.

Shortly after, L’Equipe in France reported that PSG’s Qatari owners are ‘ready to accept’ the proposal – which will obliterate the world transfer record for a football player – if they can convince Mbappe to switch allegiances.

According to CBS Sports‘ James Benge, Mbappe will be offered €700 million ($776 million) for a single season by Al-Hilal after which he would be free to join Real Madrid.

This would bring the total value of the package to a mind-blowing €1 billion ($1.1 billion), and also see Lionel Messi’s previous record for the highest-paid sports contract broken.

PSG set the current world transfer record themselves when triggering Neymar’s €222 million ($246 million) release clause at FC Barcelona in 2017.

Mbappe arrived at the Ligue 1 champions in the same summer, but this had to be done via a loan to navigate Financial Fair Play limits because of the enormous fee that had been handed over to the Catalans for Neymar.

A year later, Mbappe joined the Qatari-owned Parisians permanently from Monaco as part of a €145 million ($160 million) plus €35 million ($39 million) in add-ons arrangement that made him the world’s most expensive teenager.

Fast forward to the present, and Mbappe looks set to flee the Parc des Princes for not heeding an ultimatum to renew his contract.

Mbappe signed an extension in spring 2022, but he has thus far failed to exercise an additional, optional 12 months that would tie him down until June 2025.

He has told his club in a letter that he will leave in June 2024, and Friday saw several outlets report that PSG have put him up for sale after dropping the Russia 2018 World Cup winner from a preseason tour of Japan.

When reporting this news, The Athletic added that clubs from Saudi Arabia were interested in Mbappe and would be prepared to smash the world transfer record to bring him to the Saudi Pro League.

Foot Mercato also reported that the Saudi government, which through the Public Investment Fund now has control of four of the domestic championship’s top four teams, was preparing to make Mbappe a huge offer.

And now, at the turn of the week, Romano has come forward with an exclusive detailing how Al-Hilal have submitted a formal bid to PSG to open talks for Mbappe.

Romano understands the package to contain a €300 million world record transfer fee, and this has been confirmed by various other reporters and publications.

He explained that there are no talks on the player’s side as of yet, and that PSG remain convinced Mbappe has already agreed terms with Real Madrid and has a contract ready with them.

This probably entails Mbappe heading to the Spanish capital on a free transfer in 2024, in a development where he would earn a huge loyalty bonus at PSG plus a monstrous signing-on fee from Los Blancos.

MARCA has previously put the loyalty bonus as high as €170 million ($189 million), and Sky Sports in the UK has reported that PSG would consider loaning Mbappe out for a season if someone pays his wages and he waves the loyalty fee due to be paid on July 31.

PSG could confine Mbappe to the stands and freeze him out of head coach Luis Enrique’s plans as punishment for not renewing his contract.

This could make the Saudi move interesting for the forward as he would continue to play ahead of Euro 2024 and the Paris 2024 Olympics with his country next summer.

Though CBS Sports‘ Belge put the offer much higher, Tancredi Palmieri reported that Al-Hilal will tempt Mbappe with €200 million ($221.6 million) a season on a two-year deal that possibly contains a Real Madrid-only clause.

Regardless of the exact salary figures involved, this would appear to be the best solution for all parties.

PSG would get rid of a player that has become a financial burden, while Mbappe meanwhile stays sharp and still has an out to join Madrid.

Furthermore, his enormous potential earnings in Saudi Arabia would put Mbappe in a strong position to knock Cristiano Ronaldo off the top of Forbes’ list of The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes after he topped the soccer equivalent in 2022 thanks to his PSG contract renewal.