The PSG star striker announced to his club that he would not activate the option year of his contract on Monday. Enough to revive speculation on a potential departure this year.
The historic soap opera between Kylian Mbappé and Paris Saint-Germain was fully relaunched on Monday, June 12, with a letter sent by the player to his club, in which he explains that he does not wish to stay for the 2024-2025 season. . In the process, the Parisian club threatened to sell its player this summer without waiting for the end of his contract in the summer of 2024. Yet another twist in a turbulent relationship.
May 2019: a first mention of departure formulated at the UNFP trophies
During the great mass of French football, Kylian Mbappé drops an unexpected bomb. While he received two trophies, those of the best hope and the best player, the Bondysien expresses himself in his speech of thanks on his future: “This is an important moment for me. A turning point in my career, the time to have more responsibilities. It may be at PSG, with great pleasure, or perhaps elsewhere, with a new project.” In short, Mbappé has opened the door for the first time to leaving the club, when he has three years left on his contract with Paris. And even though he had affirmed at the microphone of Téléfoot, two months earlier, that he “[serait] there next season, that’s for sure”.
Summer 2021: Mbappé and Paris open the door to a departure
That summer, for the first time, both sides considered leaving. On the lookout, Real Madrid made two offers for the 23-year-old player during the month of August, for 160 and then 180 million euros. “If he wants to leave, we’re not going to hold him back, but it’s on our terms.” says PSG sporting director Leonardo. In October, the player speaks about this desire to leave at the microphone of RMC. “Before the Euros, I told the club that I didn’t want to renew, and after the Euros, I said that I wanted to leave. […] I thought my adventure with PSG was over.” During the first home game of the season, against Strasbourg, he was greeted by the whistles of the Parc des Princes.
May 2022: extension with great fanfare
After months of discussions and negotiations with PSG, but also with Real Madrid at the same time, Kylian Mbappé finally decides. He decides to extend with Paris for two additional years and a one-year option. The native of Bondy, however, imposes his conditions on the sporting level first, in particular by linking his future to that of the Portuguese Luis Campos, whom he rubbed shoulders with on his debut in Monaco and with whom he remained very close.
He demands that the latter become the club’s sporting director, replacing Leonardo. Salary conditions are also added to the contract: 6 million euros gross per month, and additional bonuses. Once the agreement is sealed, Mbappé declares in front of the supporters of the Park just before the last day of Ligue 1: “I have always said that Paris is my home.”
October 2022: earthquake before the winter transfer window
The news is surprising. Five months after the announcement of the extension of Kylian Mbappé in Paris, celebrated with pomp, the newspaper brand first then The Team, calls into question the rest of the season of the tricolor striker in the capital. These media claim that Kylian Mbappé wants to leave PSG, and this, from January, during the winter transfer window (from January 1 to 31). According to them, the player feels betrayed by the management of the club, and believes that the promises made a few months earlier have not been kept: in the front line the summer transfer window, his positioning on the ground, his place within the famous project designed around him. The news spread in the press just before the C1 match against Benfica (1-1). A few days later, Kylian Mbappé denies the rumors.
March 2023: as a sign of rupture…
If the desire also seemed behind him, the elimination of PSG in the knockout stages of the Champions League, against Bayern Munich is struggling to pass. “I said at the start of the season during the first C1 press conference that we were going to do our best. Our maximum is that, that’s the truth”, he tackles after this new Parisian defeat on the European scene. Despite ever more grandiose recruitments, the club under Qatari governance still stumbles in C1 and still fails to lift the trophy so hoped for by Paris and awaited by Mbappé.
May 2023: … before a new development
The disappointment of elimination digested, Kylian Mbappé reassures Parisian supporters about his near future during the UNFP awards ceremony, during which he was named best player of the Ligue 1 season. “I have a contract, next year I will be there”, he assured. Without however mentioning the option of the additional season which can be activated at the discretion of the player.
June 2023: an inevitable divorce?
After this speech, PSG seemed more confident about its chances of keeping Kylian Mbappé in its ranks. But that was without counting a new action from the player. According to information from the sports department of Radio France, Kylian Mbappé sent a letter to the media on Monday June 12 announcing his desire not to lift this famous one-year option from his contract. A letter that the club did not receive in a second time, creating amazement and annoyance about this method.