It’s official: Mbappe’s era at PSG is over

Robin Bairner

• 26 Feb 2024 09:02 GMT
• 3 min read

PSG are in the process of putting Kylian Mbappe in his place as the forward prepares to depart the club in the summer, with a move to Real Madrid looking increasingly likely.

Mbappe’s status at the club was previously considered so untouchable that he was laughingly referred to as the sporting director.

Transfers were made with the aim of keeping the World Cup winner happy. Fall out with Neymar? No problem, he can go to the Saudi Pro League. Unhappy with Marco Verratti’s professionalism? The Italian can go to Qatar.

Meanwhile, PSG spent big this summer recruiting Ousmane Dembele, a player known to be close friends with the forward.

Mbappe was also responsible for declaring when he would and wouldn’t play.

“Kylian wanted to play, and when Kylian wants to play, we don’t have much to play. We can just watch him play, the staff and the fans,” Luis Enrique said when he made the curious decision to field Mbappe for the duration of a Coupe de France match against amateur side Revel.

But everything has changed with Mbappe’s announcement that he will leave in the summer at the end of his contract, a fact still unofficial but a poorly kept secret.

Mbappe no long special

Mbappe was hauled off midway through the second half of Sunday’s Ligue 1 encounter Rennes as PSG trailed 1-0 – something previously unthinkable. His replacement, Goncalo Ramos, ultimately squared the match via a controversial late penalty, but it’s clear the era of Mbappe’s hold over PSG is at an end.

“It’s very simple,” Luis Enrique said when asked why he had replaced the World Cup winner when he was not the worst player on the field. “Sooner or later, we’ll have to get used to playing without Kylian.

“When I want to play him, I will, when I don’t, it’s the same.”

The former Barcelona boss has been quietly waging a war with the 25-year-old all season by fielding him in his unfavoured centre-forward role, but it now appears he has the green light to treat the forward like any other player.

The era of Mbappe at PSG is truly over.