Kylian Mbappe, a French talent, will not play in Paris Saint-Germain’s league opener on Saturday. The future of the France leader is still unclear.
Mbappe didn’t show up to practice on Friday, and he has turned down the Ligue 1 winners’ offer to sign a new deal.
All summer, everyone has been talking about Mbappe’s contract conflict.
He has refused to sign a new contract 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.
Mbappe hasn’t been able to train with the first team and has only played in one of PSG’s five warm-up games. He also wasn’t asked to the pre-season trip to Japan and South Korea.
Neymar, a Brazilian, won’t be able to play against Lorient on Saturday night because he has a “viral syndrome.”
Marco Verratti, an Italian defender who used to play for Barcelona and wasn’t even on the team against Lorient, is rumored to be up for sale.
Lionel Messi is now playing for Inter Miami, so PSG’s new coach, Luis Enrique, is likely to start three new players in attack: Lee Kang-In from South Korea, Goncalo Ramos from Portugal, and Marco Asensio from Spain.
Saturday morning, PSG finished getting Ousmane Dembele, a French forward who plays for Barcelona, on a five-year deal.
Mbappe wrote on social media to Dembele, with whom he won the 2018 World Cup, “Welcome home, my brother. I’m so happy to see you here. Let the adventure begin.”