Kylian Mbappe will join Paris Saint-Germain this summer.
Mbappe, whose contract expires this summer, communicated his contract to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi on Tuesday.
PSG expect Mbappe to sign for Real Madrid at the end of the season once the terms of his exit are finalized.
The two sides have yet to negotiate whether Mbappe will leave in exchange for a payment or sacrifice his own earnings. PSG have Mbappe’s word that he will never leave with a flexible transfer.
Real Madrid are interested in the 25-year-old striker on a long-term basis and are expected to accept a pay cut to sign for the Spanish side, although they are keen to make him the highest-paid player. in its history.
PSG rejected a €220 million (£188 million) offer for Mbappe from Real Madrid in August 2021. The striker then opted to sign a new three-year contract with PSG that expires this summer.
If Mbappe were to extend his contract by one year, PSG would put a price tag of €150 million (£128 million) in the next transfer window. They accepted a €300 million (£256 million) offer from Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal last summer, which Mbappe rejected.
Mbappe’s departure will be the next step in PSG’s plan to emerge from the Galacticos’ individualistic era, favoring instead a younger, collectively-focused team. That’s when Neymar, Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos and Marco Verratti were all allowed to leave.
The departure of Mbappe, whose salary costs PSG €200 million (£171 million) a year, will lose budget for the club to update their star player and it is understood that there are already plans to make several signings this summer.
Warren Zaire-Emery, 17, and Bradley Barcola, 21, kicked off the new project for PSG, which boasts the youngest team in the Champions League this season. Xavi Simons, 20, on loan at RB Leipzig, is also considered the key player. to the future of PSG.
PSG are expected to offer renewals to Simons and Zaire-Emery, while Barcola signed from Lyon on a five-year contract this summer.
Kaveh Solhekol, chief reporter at Sky Sports News:
“As far as PSG is concerned, they knew this was going to happen. Mbappe had the option to extend his contract for another season. He told them last season he wouldn’t do that.
“It’s costing PSG an absolute fortune, around £180m a year, if you take into account their salaries and bonuses. There’s a sense of relief that this total circus is going to end and that its long-term is going to go in another direction. “. .
“Everyone knows that Real Madrid need to sign him. He has been in talks with Real for a long time because since January he has been talking to other clubs because his contract expires this summer.
“Our data is that Real are in a position to make him the highest-paid player in history, but no club, not even as big as Real, can pay him the amount of money he earned at PSG.
“The negotiations took so long because they had to come to an agreement because he was going to take a pay cut. The first step of the procedure is that he told PSG that he was leaving and they communicated it. “
Spanish expert Álvaro Montero:
“Everyone at the club is positive, especially Florentino Perez and Jose Angel Sanchez. They’re the ones who know what’s going to happen. They say that in March or April Mbappe will tell the club – not publicly – where he is going to go. “. play.
“Everyone at the club believes he will play for Real Madrid, but we’ll see what happens in the next few weeks.
“At Real Madrid, the player who earns the most earns €24 million [£20 million] a year. It has emerged that Real could be offering him £25m [£21m] after tax, or around £50m [£43m] before tax.
“Within Real Madrid, they believe that the amount of money Kylian has earned in the last two or three years is partly due to the £200m that Real Madrid offered to sign him before he signed a contract extension with PSG.
“The club believes that the money he has earned is partly due to the offer from Real Madrid that he rejected through PSG. “
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