PSG to replace Mbappe with €4m signing

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 5 Feb 2024 08:43 GMT
• 2 min read

PSG are facing up to the prospect of losing Kylian Mbappe as a free agent in the summer, with the Parc des Princes club already considering strategies to replace the France international star.

As Le Parisien reported on Saturday, the tendency is for Mbappe to leave Paris and join Real Madrid at the end of his contract on 1 July. Nothing is yet set in stone, but there is pessimism around the Ligue 1 leaders that their superstar will be retained into the 2024/25 campaign.

Already, PSG are hastily putting together a contingency plan that will take them into the post-Mbappe era.

It is generally considered that PSG will seek to sign a superstar to replace Mbappe, with Napoli striker Victor Osimhen and Milan forward Rafael Leao both linked with the role of the No.7’s heir, yet in a surprising move, president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is ready to hand the keys of the team over to a €4 million signing.

PSG pick Simons as Mbappe replacement

Xavi Simons is set to be the player that PSG put faith in next year, when he will be brought back from his loan at RB Leipzig to be given centre stage in the City of Lights.

Simons was allowed to for PSV in the summer of 2022 on a free transfer but PSG activated a buy-back option in that deal last summer before loaning him to the Bundesliga side.

“His return to the capital was as much a way of preparing for the future with a player who loves the club as it was a financial opportunity on a potential resale,” Le Parisien points out.

The Netherlands star has since excelled with RB Leipzig, scoring seven goals and creating nine more. Simons, though, is loving life at his current club, where there is an appetite for him to stay at least one further season.

“Simons has not yet decided what his future will look like but, among those who know him, we assure you that he is not waiting to know what Mbappe will do to decide,” PSG are warned.

Under contract with PSG until 2027, they are in command of Simons’ future, with his fate now apparently linked with that of Mbappe.