Paris Saint-Germain received a €300-million offer from Al-Hilal for superstar forward Kylian Mbappe and granted the Saudi Arabian club permission to discuss personal terms with the World Cup winner, according to Adam Crafton and Dan Sheldon of The Athletic.
The deal, if completed, would constitute a world-record fee, eclipsing the €222 million PSG paid to acquire Neymar from Barcelona in 2017.
The reigning Ligue 1 champions intend to accept Al-Hilal’s mammoth offer if the Saudi side and prolific Frenchman come to terms on a contract, according to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano.
PSG and Mbappe have been in the throes of a contract standoff since the 24-year-old informed the club last month of his decision not to trigger a 12-month extension. That clause, entirely at the discretion of Mbappe, becomes void at the end of the month, Crafton and Sheldon note.
Instead, Mbappe intends to see out the final year of his deal, which expires next summer, and depart as a free agent. He’s widely expected to join Real Madrid; PSG are convinced Mbappe already has an agreement in place with the Spanish side, according to Romano.
The protracted saga escalated last week when PSG omitted Mbappe from the squad for the team’s preseason tour of Asia. Various reports suggest PSG would be willing to bench Mbappe for the entire upcoming season if he isn’t sold during the current transfer window.
Club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi gave Mbappe a public ultimatum earlier this summer, stating the forward must either extend his contract or leave immediately. Al-Khelaifi deemed it “impossible” that PSG would allow the “best player in the world” to leave on a free transfer; the Parisian outfit paid €180 million to land Mbappe from AS Monaco, initially signing him on loan in 2017 before making the deal permanent the following year.
Al-Khelaifi’s message drew the ire of the French footballers’ union (UNFP), which said PSG’s treatment of Mbappe is akin to “moral harassment.”
Mbappe, widely regarded as the game’s most dominant player, has been directly involved in 397 goals for club and country in his decorated young career, scoring 279 times and adding 118 assists in just 390 games.
Al-Hilal’s bid is Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious pursuit yet after months spent recruiting some of world football’s top names and building on Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival. Al-Hilal, one of four clubs controlled by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), have already signed Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, and Kalidou Koulibaly this summer.
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