Kylian Mbappe will only join Real Madrid this summer if one huge financial condition is met, or instead look to fulfill his Paris Saint-Germain contract according to MARCA.
For the second time in recent weeks concerning the 24-year-old, shockwaves were sent through the football world when PSG Community reported that PSG and Madrid have reached an agreement worth up to €250 million ($272 million) for Mbappe’s transfer.
This comes after L’Equipe first reported Mbappe sent PSG a letter explaining his desire to leave when his current contract expires on June 30, 2024.
In a statement to the AFP, Mbappe confirmed the news and added that he had informed the Ligue 1 champions of his intentions in July of last year just a couple of months after extending his once expiring terms until the mentioned date.
Reports that PSG have issued Mbappe a “renew or be sold” type ultimatum have been constant.
L’Equipe raised the matter first when their original report about the letter emerged, and it is something that Paris Community explained is still in effect on Thursday.
Over in the Spanish capital, however, at MARCA, the Madrid-based daily newspaper says that the potential transfer which now looks more likely to happen than before “is not as simple as PSG asking for €200 million to sell the striker”.
Put simply, Mbappe and his camp – led by the player’s mother Fayza Lamari – reportedly do not want to lose out on the €150 million ($163 million) set to come their way by seeing out the arrangement at the Parc des Princes, or at least be left well out of pocket.
According to MARCA, this huge sum is split into €60 million ($65.3 million) in wages and €90 million ($98 million) agreed as part of a loyalty bonus when he signed the new deal in May last year.
The extension helped Mbappe top Forbes’ list of the World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players with earnings of $110 million on-field according to industry experts, plus $18 million off-field.
Last month, Mbappe then finished fourth on Forbes’ World’s Highest-Paid Athletes list with $100 million earned on-field and $20 million off-field.
Back to the present, an ideal outcome for the Mbappe clan would see them receive the remaining money due from PSG and then negotiate him joining Real Madrid as a free agent for the 2024/2025 season from January 1 onwards with a personally lucrative signing bonus between €100-125 million ($109-136 million) also forthcoming.
MARCA reports that Mbappe “will only accept a transfer now if he doesn’t lose a lot of money”, but this seems difficult to achieve with Madrid’s yearly salary offer reportedly standing between €25-30 million ($27.2-32.6 million).
This is because Madrid will not be able to offer the kind of signing-on bonus Mbappe craves if they are handing over €200 million for his services as well this summer.
A best case scenario for Mbappe would be PSG lowering their asking price significantly so that he can still get a bumper bonus, but his current Qatari-owned employers are under no obligation to do so and will want to recoup the reported €145 million ($158 million) plus €35 million ($38.3 million) in add-ons they paid when buying him from Monaco as a teenager.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomsanderson/2023/06/23/kylian-mbappe-will-only-join-real-madrid-now-on-one-huge-financial-condition-or-fulfill-psg-contract-reports/