Before the new Ligue 1 season starts this weekend, there is a lot of uncertainty about Kylian Mbappe’s future.
The star player for Paris Saint-Germain has won France’s player of the year award four years in a row and been Ligue 1’s top scorer for five years in a row. However, his contract fight with the winners has been the biggest story of the summer.
Mbappe has refused to sign a contract extension with PSG, which means he can leave for free next year. Real Madrid has been thought to be his top choice for a long time.
PSG wants to sell him now and get a lot of money for a player they bought from Monaco for €180 million ($198 million) in 2017.
There is now a standoff, and for now, Mbappe is still in Paris, but he can’t train with the first team.
“We can’t just let the best player in the world go for nothing. The head of the club, which is owned by Qatar, Nasser al-Khelaifi, said last month that it was impossible.
With Luis Enrique taking over for Christophe Galtier as PSG’s new coach, the situation isn’t great.
No matter what happens with Mbappe, PSG has a new look. Last season, they barely won the title and didn’t do well in Europe.
Messi and Ramos have both left the team. Even if Mbappe stays, they needed more help in the attack, so they brought in Portugal scorer Goncalo Ramos from Benfica.
They look better now that Lucas Hernandez, Milan Skriniar, Manuel Ugarte, Lee Kang-in, and Marco Asensio have joined.
Hernandez told the sports newspaper L’Equipe, “I could have stayed at Bayern Munich, but the interest they showed in me, their ambition, and the project they are trying to set up for the future convinced me to come.”
PSG is the clear favorite to win their 10th title in 12 years, but if Mbappe leaves, their local rivals might see their chance.
Changing scenery
Things are changing in French football.
There are now only 18 teams in Ligue 1. After more than 20 years with 20 teams in the top league, this change was made so that French sides could be more competitive in Europe by playing fewer league games.
Even so, and even though Messi is leaving and Mbappe might follow, the French league hopes that an upcoming sale for the next TV deal will allow it to make a lot more money than it does now, especially for foreign rights.
The leaders of the league want their teams to be as famous internationally as those in England, Spain, Germany, and Italy. However, the growing trend of multi-club control could turn several French teams into feeder teams.
BlueCo, a group run by the United States that also owns Chelsea, has taken over Strasbourg.
“Even though we didn’t have to do it because of money, we knew we’d gone as far as we could with our current model,” said Marc Keller, the president of Strasbourg.
He disagrees with the idea that Strasbourg, which won the French championship in 1979, will just be a farm team, and they have hired Patrick Vieira, who was the boss of Crystal Palace, as their coach.
Bill Foley, who owns the English Premier League team Bournemouth, now owns 40% of the French team Lorient.
The Brittany team made news when they signed Benjamin Mendy after he was cleared of sex crimes in England.
Aiming high, Marseille
Lyon was once the best team in France, but their chances aren’t clear in their first full season since an American businessman, John Textor, bought the team.
Textor also owns the Brazilian team Botafogo and the Belgian team Molenbeek. He also has a big stake in the English team Crystal Palace.
But he wasn’t able to convince the DNCG, French football’s financial watchdog, that his spending plans were good. Because of this, their wage bill has been capped.
They haven’t been able to add many new players to a team that placed seventh last year, outside of Europe.
Last season’s runners-up, Lens, have lost their leader, Seko Fofana, to Saudi Arabia and their top scorer, Lois Openda, to RB Leipzig. However, they hope to still be competitive even though they will be playing in the Champions League.
After making some bold moves, Marseille, which is now led by Marcelino, the former coach of Valencia, looks like it could be the best team to take on PSG.
If Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gets back to the good form he had earlier in his career, he could be a big hit.
Rennes and Lille will try to get back to the top, and Monaco and Nice, which is owned by Ineos, will look to their new coaches to help them improve after poor seasons.