When it’s blurry, there’s a wolf? Many observers regret the “fuzziness” around the Paris transfer window. Except that the club with 11 titles of champion of France advances. Failing to have been formalized, the arrivals of Milan Skriniar (Inter, free), Marco Asencio (Real Madrid, free) and Manuel Ugarte (Sporting CP, 60 M€) have already been recorded. Ditto for the coach, Luis Enrique being at the gates of Paris and already working on the transfer window according to various sources. Promised to Inter, Marcus Thuram will not come. According to some media, the arrivals of Cher Ndour (Benfica, free) and Lee Woon-seong (Mallorca) are on the right track. It’s discussed for Lucas Hernandez (Bayern) and Paris still dreams of Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), with other tracks mentioned here and there, especially for the position of center forward (Osimhen, Kane, Kolo Muani).
In fact, if there is a blur, it is especially in the Kylian Mbappé file. And that’s obviously not nothing… If he repeats his intention to honor his last year of contract, Bondy’s crack is – for the time being – not inclined to extend. If necessary, he could therefore leave without compensation in 2024. Unthinkable for Paris Saint-Germain, who have clearly established things: extension or the door, even if no one can force a player under contract to leave. Mbappé knows this perfectly well when he talks about his desire to stay without activating his option for 2024-25. It’s a game of poker… in which the captain of the Blues has the best hand.
At the moment, the heavy trend is to start this summer. But no source close to the case dares to deliver a prognosis or to be definitive: “KM” can very well extend tomorrow! This is obviously the most desirable outcome for the capital club, which gave everything to its number 7 in order to convince it to re-enlist last year and which has so often – too often – relied on its only talent for two years in order to hide his deficiencies on the meadow, the “gaps” as the main interested party said recently in the Italian press. But also for the Professional Football League (LFP), it would be more difficult to reach one billion euros in TV rights without Mbappé or Lionel Messi, or even Neymar…
The departure of Kylian Mbappé would therefore be bad news for PSG, who will not find a player capable of replacing him, let alone a Frenchman, a Parisian by birth in addition. Impossible. Single model. Perhaps not the predicted cataclysm either. In any case, the “Qatar-SG” could come out on top. By refusing Mbappé the leisure to leave free in 2024, by not giving in, the management would show that the time of privileges is well and truly over. When we saw Paris punish a departing Lionel Messi a few weeks ago, we had the right to wonder if it was not a cheap publicity stunt. This time, it would be a real signal to show that the institution is above everything and everyone on the banks of the Seine. Even if in the end, we would have the right to think that “KM” got what he wanted…
At least in terms of image, it would be positive to have held on. Especially if in the end, Kylian Mbappé’s potential future club agrees to pay a record amount as transfer compensation. Moreover, this would also be true if the 24-year-old finally agreed to re-enlist this summer and PSG remained straight in their boots on the “extension or transfer” line. Even more in fact!
In the event of a sale, it would not only be a success in terms of image, but also for the finances of the club. Admittedly, the Qataris are not lacking in resources. But the European financial policeman keeps watch. PSG pledged last year to get back on track by 2025. All this while the continental body will require clubs not to spend more than 80% of their income in 2024 and 70% in 2025 At the moment, the champion of France is far from it.
Remember that Mbappé would receive around 72 M € gross per year according to the figures revealed by Le Parisien in October of the past year, a few months after the extension. The biggest contract in the world… outside of Saudi Arabia. In addition to a fixed and guaranteed signing bonus of around €180m gross, the captain of the Blues would be awarded a loyalty bonus of €80m gross if he is still in Paris at the end of this transfer window. summer, and 90 at the end of the 2024 off-season transfer window. Between these savings in terms of wages and bonuses, and the transfer fee, not to mention the departures of two other big earners, Messi and Sergio Ramos, Paris would be in a good position with regard to the financial watchdog and the respect of the commitments made last year. Moreover, respect for financial fair play is a priority assumed for the summer, even if at the start there was no question of using Mbappé for that… A few weeks ago, there was still no question of talking departure.
And the sportsman in all of this? To lose a boy who is considered one of the best players in the world, if not the best, would be terrible. We are talking about a player who “weighs” 41 goals in 43 matches in the previous campaign. Depending on the choices of the sports management, his departure could however allow Luis Enrique – who should not be officially inducted into his new functions before next week according to Canal – to set up a project more oriented towards the collective, a game more open, less predictable. Everyone would be more responsible on the ground. Beyond the game project, it is the project itself that would become more collective. And there too, it is one of the priorities, with or without “KM”.
After the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2016, and before the arrival of the Neymar / Mbappé tandem in 2017, the capital club had already made this bet, achieving what is perhaps its best European match, the 4-0 against Barça, in the round of 16 first leg of C1. And then there was the comeback, the comeback (6-1 defeat). A cataclysm which had pushed the leaders to hit (hard) on the transfer market, choosing the stars rather than the game. The departure of Mbappé would be an opportunity to return to the basics and to rebuild around a team , without having a club that kneels for the good pleasure of a boy who is not even sure he wants to link his future to Paris.
In fact, there is every reason to think that he sees himself elsewhere in the short/medium term, and he had said so as early as last May. Image, authority, finances, collective: the keys to a successful post-Mbappé for PSG. There is life without Bondy’s crack. Paris has the assets to face it. But with him, it would be better… It’s up to him to decide.
