“We have never seen such sums appear in football for a single player”, is surprised Pierre Rondeau, specialist in sports economics, guest on franceinfo. A Saudi club has offered 300 million euros to PSG to try to buy out the last year of Kylian Mbappé’s contract.
“It’s a crazy proposition, it’s beyond all limits“, estimated Tuesday, July 25 on franceinfo Pierre Rondeau, sports economist, professor at the Sports Management School, co-director of the Sports Observatory at the Jean Jaurès Foundation. The Saudi club Al-Hilal was authorized to discuss with the Mbappé clan and offers a record compensation of “300 million euros“. PSG wants to sell the French prodigy since the latter does not want to extend his contract which ends in 2024. There is no question for the Parisian club to see him leave for free.
Foot: three questions to understand the showdown between Kylian Mbappé and PSG
According to Pierre Rondeau, from a sporting point of view Mbappé “should stay in Europe to play in major competitive leagues“, but “everything can happen“Among these clubs that have surveyed Paris Saint-Germain include Chelsea, Manchester United, FC Barcelona and Inter Milan. Several Saudi teams have also positioned themselves.
franceinfo: 300 million euros for Kylian Mbappé, is it an offer that PSG cannot refuse?
Pierre Rondeau, sports economist, professor at the Sports Management School: offrom a strictly accounting and economic point of view, obviously an offer of 300 million euros would necessarily interest PSG, even any club in Europe. We know that PSG suffered a lot from the economic crisis during the Covid-19 and the various confinements. We know that PSG was in financial loss of more than 200 million euros last season. We know that PSG needs money to finally reimburse the check signed for Mbappé last season and for all these investments made in football.
Did we put so much money on the table to buy a player?
We are still talking about an offer of 300 million euros offered to PSG to buy a player who only has one year left on his contract. We are also talking about a salary of between 200 and 400 million euros per season. Yes, it is beyond all limits. We have never seen such sums appear in football for a single player. The current record is Neymar who cost 222 million euros. There, it’s 300 million with a salary much higher than the best salaries in sport. It’s a crazy proposition. This is an absolute record. We’ll see if it goes to the end.
Is it also an image that the Saudi club is trying to buy?
Yes. Besides, he is a young player. It will no longer be the idea of considering that players in pre-retirement would go to exotic championships, to foreign championships. He’s really a player in his prime, a player who has just finished a World Cup by being voted top scorer. He is a player who should win if he leads his career well, a Ballon d’Or. What is new here is that in the past, as we saw with Cristiano Ronaldo, pre-retirement players left for these foreign, Asian or North American championships with Messi in Miami. Once again, nothing is done, but we are on the verge of seeing a young star land in a foreign championship. It’s for the athlete, but it’s above all and above all for the image of this country, Saudi Arabia, which seeks to improve its reputation through sport.
Sportingly, does Mbappé have an interest in accepting this offer?
It is certain that sportingly, he should stay in Europe to evolve in major competitive championships, to participate in the European Champions League. Even though Saudi Arabia has a reputation in football with the Asian Champions League, it is still a lower level compared to Europe, to the Spanish, English and even French championships. From a strictly sporting point of view, it would be in his interest to stay in Europe. Now, indeed, anything can happen. We know there is a risk for him. Parisian president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi threatens him with the bench all season since he absolutely wants to sell the player. If the latter were to refuse, he would be sanctioned. He would not play again for the season. Between not playing, but staying in Europe for a year or going to Saudi Arabia for a year. What would be the interest of the player?