Agencies
Kylian Mbappe has “no excuse” for not signing a new deal with Paris Saint-Germain, according to club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
And yet with little over a week of the transfer window remaining, the uncertainty over the superstar forward's future remains the stain on an otherwise dreamy summer for the Parc des Princes outfit.
Rarely has such a collection of star names been assembled over the course of such a short period. Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Sergio Ramos, Georginio Wijnaldum and, of course, Lionel Messi have all arrived in the French capital in a period of under two months. Such armament was designed to persuade the 22-year-old of PSG’s strength, putting to bed any doubts Mbappe had over the club’s ambition and Champions League-winning capabilities.
“What I want to do is win, to feel like I'm somewhere where I can do that in the sense that there's a solid project around me,” he told Canal+ back in May when the first genuine stirrings of his discontent were made public.
“I eat football, I live football and so the sporting project is essential.”
Whatever Mbappe’s feeling towards the practicalities of playing in a top-heavy, defence-shy front three with Neymar and Messi might be, such a Galactico transfer window was designed to prove that PSG’s pulling power is, for now, unrivalled.
His demands had apparently been met by the club, who very publicly put the ball back in the player’s court.
“We have the most competitive team in the world right now. So there is no excuse for him now. He can't do anything else but stay,” Al-Khelaifi said at Messi’s introduction when asked about the superstar youngster.
And yet even that may not be enough to keep the World Cup winner beyond the end of his contract in June 2022.
With Mbappe’s situation likely to remain unresolved beyond the end of the transfer window, his future promises to make as many headlines as the brilliance of Messi and the all-star cast that PSG have assembled. This is a stain that will not readily be shifted.
