It was only earlier this week when it seemed as if Paris Saint-Germain star forward Kylian Mbappe signing with Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer was a done deal. Reports emerged on Tuesday claiming that Paris Saint-Germain had “given up” on keeping Mbappe, and the 23-year-old out of contract at the end of next month has repeatedly been seriously linked with the Spanish giants since as far back as at least a year ago.
The situation has apparently changed.
ESPN’s Alex Kirkland and Rodrigo Faez noted on Friday that there was new “pessimism” among those at Real Madrid regarding Mbappe’s intentions even though such individuals believed he’d essentially committed his future to the club months ago.
“The club are nervous at this late stage because they have not received confirmation that Mbappe intends to formally accept their offer or stay in Paris,” Kirkland and Faez reported.
The ESPN story adds that Fayza Lamari, Mbappe’s mother, told outlet Kora Plus that her son had come to terms on deals with both teams.
“We will not have new meetings to discuss the future of Mbappe, these meetings are over,” she said on Friday. “Now we have reached an agreement with both Real Madrid and PSG and the discussions are over because now it is Kylian who has to choose.
“The two offers, the one from PSG and the one from Real Madrid, are almost identical. At Real, my son will have control of his image rights. Now we will wait for his decision… The two offers do not differ much and we are waiting for Mbappe to choose what he wants.”
It is understood Mbappe will publicly confirm his future plans at some point this weekend.
Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino raised eyebrows late last month when he insisted he was “100%” sure both he and Mbappe would remain with the club for another campaign. Perhaps Pochettino had inside information at that time, or maybe Mbappe merely has a flair for the dramatic.
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