‘Mbappe to reject Real Madrid’

Carlo Garganese

• 14 Jan 2024 13:24 GMT
• 3 min read

Former PSG legend Luis Fernandez believes that Kylian Mbappe will end up staying at the club again this summer.

Mbappe sees his contract at PSG expire at the end of the season and it is widely believed that he will finally make his long-awaited move to Real Madrid on a free transfer.

Twice in the past Mbappe has been set to join Madrid, only to change his mind at the last hour and remain with PSG.

And Fernandez, who was a legendary player for PSG and France in the 1980s before later becoming manager of the Parisians, believes Mbappe will do the same this summer.

What did Luis Fernandez say?

“Yes, (I think that) he will stay at PSG. When I hear everyone’s statements, from the president of PSG, who takes the initiative and talks about the issue, when I see Kylian doing the same after a match about a signed agreement, when I see that PSG wants to invest in this new technical centre,” Fernandez told bein Sports.

“We have brought Randal, Kolo Muani and Dembele, who are friends that Kylian wanted to have by his side. I think he will stay at PSG next season.”

Madrid remain cautiously optimistic of signing Mbappe on a free transfer but are not getting their hopes up having been burned numerous times in the past when the attacker’s previous contracts were running down.

Last summer Mbappe came to an agreement with PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi to waive more than €100 million in loyalty bonuses.

In exchange for that, PSG agreed for Mbappe to return to playing with the team for this final season.

His contract expires in Paris in six months.

Mbappe’s summer of discontent

Last summer, Mbappe told PSG that he didn’t intend to trigger the option in his current contract - which expires in 2024 - of extending by a further year.

Mbappe notified PSG in a written letter that he planned to see out the final year of his PSG contract and would not leave in 2023.

This infuriated PSG, and Mbappe was frozen out of the squad during the summer and at the start of the current season, and made to train with transfer listed players.

PSG made it clear that unless he left before the end of the summer window for a big fee or sign a new contract, he would remain frozen out of the squad.

Eventually an agreement was reached for the attacker to be reintegrated into the squad.

There has been a flurry of reports regarding Mbappe’s future in recent weeks but Madrid remain favourites to sign him on a Bosman Transfer.

Mbappe’s favourite club as a child was Real Madrid.