Kylian Mbappe, a striker for Paris Saint-Germain, has declined to meet with representatives from Al Hilal, laying a possibly fatal blow to the Saudis’ lofty expectations of completing a world record transfer fee of 333 million euros (around 300 million euros).
According to a source in the sports newspaper L’Equipe, the star player from France has declined to have “any discussion with the representatives of the Al-Hilal club, present in Paris this Wednesday.”
The report claims that a group from the Saudi club traveled to Paris in order to complete the sale of Brazilian player Malcom from Zenit Saint Petersburg.
They also intended to give Mbappe a presentation of their proposal when they were in the capital of France.
L’Equipe said that “this approach will not succeed” since the player’s entourage “refused any discussions with the representatives of the Saudi club.” The athlete is 24 years old.
According to the source, “the captain of Les Bleus has never even considered the possibility of doing so.”
Riyadh-based PSG had granted Al Hilal permission to begin transfer negotiations with Mbappe, despite the fact that the player had never shown any interest in relocating to the rapidly developing Saudi league.
Mbappe’s current deal with PSG has one year remaining, but the club would like for him to depart now rather than have him leave for free in the summer.
However, he is not willing to sign a new contract, and the team that won the French title believes that he has already agreed to terms to transfer to Real Madrid the following season.
It is a commonly held belief that Real wanted to get Mbappe for nothing from PSG the next season, with the intention of luring him with an enormous signing bonus as a result of the fact that they would not have to pay anything for his services.
The dispute that has been raging between Mbappe and the French club reached a new pinnacle during the past weekend when the club decided not to include him in their touring team to Japan and South Korea.
In the event that Mbappe is unable to reach an agreement with PSG, there have been rumors that he might be banned from international competition for a full year.
Mbappe is still the second most expensive player in the history of the sport, behind only his colleague and fellow Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar. He has scored 212 goals for the club in 260 total matches.
In August of 2017, he joined Paris Saint-Germain on loan from Monaco for the remainder of the 2017–18 season. At the time, he was still a teenager.
The move was made permanent the following year in a transaction of 180 million euros, making it a permanent transfer.
Only Neymar, a Brazilian player, whose transfer to Paris Saint-Germain cost that club 222 million euros in 2017, is more expensive than that.
Lionel Messi, who was the third member of the great three at Paris Saint-Germain, departed at the conclusion of the previous season to sign with the MLS side Inter Miami.
The three players were unable to prevent PSG from being eliminated from the Champions League by Bayern Munich in the round of 16 during the previous campaign; nevertheless, the team did go on to win the French championship.
One of the few clubs in Saudi Arabia that are owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Al Hilal is one of such clubs.
This summer, they have already acquired Kalidou Koulibaly from Chelsea and Ruben Neves from Wolves. Both of these players are center defenders.