Barcelona attempt to hijack Real Madrid's Mbappe deal
Martin Macdonald
- 24 Mar 2022 22:59 GMT
- 3 min read
Barcelona have made an audacious play to sign Kylian Mbappe from under the noses of Real Madrid, according to French outlet L'Equipe.
The World Cup winner is out of contract in June, and it has seemed almost certain for over a year now that he would eventually sign for Real Madrid in the summer of 2022.
On transfer deadline day last summer, Real Madrid tabled an outrageous €200 million bid for Mbappe in full knowledge they could sign him for free a year later. Paris Saint-Germain didn't even bother to respond to the bid, and negotiations never happened.
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PSG are desperate to keep Mbappe and have put together a financial package that would see him become the highest-paid player in the world should he sign a new deal, but it appears he is not interested in staying in Paris.
L'Equipe reports that Barcelona have turned their attentions to Mbappe after becoming increasingly frustrated with the financial demands of Erling Haaland, another of their transfer targets.
It is likely that the futures of Mbappe and Haaland will be intrinsically linked this summer as both have been linked with Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Mbappe is still prioritising his move to Madrid, but will apparently sit down with Barcelona to hear their pitch, as he is eager to join the best "project" available.
Barca are not in a healthy state financially but are hoping to put together funds for more major acquisitions this summer.
They have received a healthy €595m loan from Goldman Sachs, while they have struck a €70m-a-year deal with Spotify for naming rights for the Camp Nou.
Mbappe would represent a cheaper option than Haaland as his acquisition would not involve a transfer fee.
Why is Mbappe unhappy?
PSG’s season has imploded in a spectacular style. Without playing fluently, Mauricio Pochettino’s side had been steadily picking up points in the first half of the season but they are now in crisis mode.
The supporters have turned on the organisation, from president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and sporting director Leonardo through to star players Neymar and Lionel Messi, who were jeered by the supporters during a recent 3-0 win over Bordeaux.
It has been triggered by the 3-1 collapse against Real Madrid in the Champions League. Mbappe stuck to put PSG 2-0 up on aggregate, but a remarkable mistake from Gianluigi Donnarumma led to the Spanish league leaders scoring three times in short order.
PSG are still rocking from that blow and last Sunday suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat away to a Monaco side that is only in the middle of the Ligue 1 table.
There is a toxic atmosphere around the club presently, and that is only going to push Mbappe closer to Real Madrid.
