Pochettino confident Mbappe WON’T join Real Madrid
Mauricio Pochettino has insisted that Kylian Mbappe is still a PSG player and is confident he won’t join Real Madrid this summer.
Mbappe’s contract at PSG expires in June and he has repeatedly rejected offers of an extension.
The World Cup star was involved in the biggest transfer saga of last summer as he attempted to push through a move to La Liga giants Real Madrid.
In the end the transfer didn’t go through but it has for some months now been accepted that Mbappe will move to the Santiago Bernabeu at the end of the season on a Bosman.
Indeed, it was reported on January Deadline Day that Mbappe had penned an agreement on a six-year contract with Madrid that will see the PSG superstar earn a mouth-watering €50 million-a-year in the Spanish capital.
However, over the past week or so, new reports emerged that claimed that PSG were making one last-ditch bid to persuade Mbappe to stay and were ready to make him the richest footballer in the world.
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And PSG manager Pochettino is confident that Mbappe will stay and sign a new contract.
“Mbappe is ours and we hope he will be here for a long time”, Pochettino told reporters.
“I understand the media needs news about one of the best in the world, but he is our player, and we hope he’ll be for a long time.
“He already declared it’s not the time for a decision, so let’s wait for him to make a statement.
“Everything else is conjecture and guesses at things that may be very far from reality.”
Pochettino was speaking ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 second leg between Madrid and PSG in the Spanish capital.
PSG lead 1-0 from the first leg, with Mbappe scoring a late winner. There have been some doubts that the attacker may miss the second leg due to injury.