Mbappe to leave PSG at end of the season; Real eyed
PARIS: Kylian Mbappe confirmed on Friday that he will leave French champions Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season, with Real Madrid widely expected to be his next destination. The announcement brings an end to a prolific association with his hometown team, which began when he signed from Monaco in 2017 in a deal worth 180 million euros ($194 million). “I wanted to announce to you all that it’s my last year at Paris Saint-Germain. I will not extend and the adventure will come to an end in a few weeks,” Mbappe, 25, said in a video posted on social media. “I will play my last game at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.”
PSG have already secured the Ligue 1 title, their 10th in the last 12 seasons, and the Qatar-owned club will pick up the trophy after Sunday’s game against Toulouse, which will be their last of the campaign on home turf. Luis Enrique’s side were eliminated from the Champions League by Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals on Tuesday when a 1-0 loss in the second leg at home sealed a surprise 2-0 aggregate defeat. It means Mbappe will be denied the send-off he had hoped for in the Champions League final at Wembley on June 1 and will end his seven-year spell at PSG without ever having won Europe’s elite club competition.
Mbappe informed PSG privately in February of his intention to depart when his contract expires at the end of the current campaign. The 2018 World Cup winner had never confirmed publicly he was leaving, though, far less said where he will be going next, but it appears certain that he is bound for Real Madrid. Spanish media have claimed for several months that Mbappe has signed an agreement which would see him join the Liga champions in July once his PSG deal runs out.
“It’s a lot of emotions, many years where I had the chance and the great honor to be a member of the biggest French club, one of the best in the world,” said Mbappe. “It allowed me to arrive here, to have my first experience in a club with a lot of pressure, to grow as a player of course, by being alongside some of the best in history, some of the greatest champions,” he added. “It’s hard and I never thought it would be this difficult to announce that... but I think I needed this, a new challenge, after seven years.”
Mbappe’s arrival in the capital as a teenager in 2017 came after he had helped Monaco win the league title. After initially joining PSG on loan, his transfer fee became—and still is—the second largest in football history. It came just weeks after PSG paid a world-record 222 million euros to sign Neymar from Barcelona.