Paris Saint-Germain’s top striker, Kylian Mbappe, has made a U-turn from a move that would have seen him in the Spanish capital next season, signing a three year deal to keep him in the French capital until 2025.
The player, whose move has been on the headlines of most media releases, has been under intense pressure from the French Football Association, Noël Le Graët, and other notable figures like President Emmanuel Macron to remain in Ligue 1.
Le Graët opined that Mbappe has a better chance of winning the Ballon d’Or if he remains in situ at PSG than switching to Spain, playing for Real Madrid. “I want Kylian to stay in Paris. It’s better for French football to have one of the best players in the world, if not the best, in its league.
He is likelier to win the Ballon d’Or with PSG than if he leaves,” he told France-Quest in an interview. Also, President Macron, who supports Olympique Marseille and is a fan of PSG’s wunderkind Mbappe, jokingly said he would have done everything to ensure Marseille signs the Le Parisien should the deal had been headed towards his boyhood club.
Macon said, “Unfortunately, you can’t speak about Kylian Mbappe going to OM. If he was willing to come I would have fought to make that happen… but he said ‘not so fast’ (laughing). So it’s better to fight for him to stay in Ligue 1 because he continues to be a great player.”
Earlier in the month, Mbappe’s mom, Fayza Lamari, refuted a tweet from a prominent French journalist, Frederic Hermel, alleging that the French forward has agreed to sign a new contract with PSG. “Mr Hermel. When you don’t know, keep your mouth shut… no agreement was ever reached,” Mbappe’s mom responded harshly to debunk Hermel’s tweet.
However, in a recent twist of the event, the player has reportedly jettisoned the move to Madrid to sign a new contract with the French giants. According to reports, the contractual terms will enable the player to have a say on who becomes the new coach of the club and will also be given priority on the appointment of a sporting director.
In addition to the above, the contract extension will see the player pocket a wholesome amount of $100m per year after tax, a $300m sign-on bonuses and particularly, will be given the leverage to approve signings and sales.
Announcing the deal, France’s World Cup winning star before PSG’s last game against Metz, told Le Parisien’s fans that he was happy to remain in the place he calls home. He added that he hopes to continue in the jersey on PSG in doing his best by winning more trophies. “I’m very happy to continue this adventure, to stay in France, in Paris, my city. I always said Paris was my home,” Mbappe told fans.
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“I hope I will continue doing what I love the most, which is to carry on playing football and winning trophies,” he reiterated. Meanwhile, PSG’s President, Nasser Al-Khelaifi who was standing close to Mbappe, breaking the good news to the fans revealed that the PSG star will stay until 2025. Al-Khelaifi said, “I have some very good news to give you.
Kylian Mbappe is going to stay until 2025, “Kylian’s commitment to PSG represents an amazing milestone in the history of our club,” he added.
According to Canadian Press, PSG turned down Madrid’s official bid of 180 million euros ($190 million) — the same amount it signed Mbappé for from Monaco in 2017 — and even another reported amount of 200 million euros ($211 million) was not enough to sell its star despite him having only a year remaining on his contract.
Mbappé said he wanted to leave at the end of last season but only on the right terms for PSG.
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