Monday night’s expired deadlines didn’t bring PSG a breakthrough with either Kylian Mbappé or Ousmane Dembelé. Only Jürgen Klopp brought a little clarity.
This Tuesday Paris St Germain face Inter Milan in Tokyo looking for only their second win in their fourth pre-season game. The French champions’ best player is not present because he has been ruled out of the Asian tour. Nevertheless, Kylian Mbappé continues to dominate the headlines.
As of 0 o’clock, the 24-year-old attacker is officially tied to PSG for only one more year. The clause that would have allowed him to extend his contract, which expires in 2024, by one year has lapsed, as announced in writing and as everyone expected. So he is officially for sale. Even though there have apparently been delicate attempts to persuade Mbappé to extend his contract, irrespective of the clause: Parisian officials will now do everything they can to turn their long-time figurehead into cash this summer.
Mbappé is believed to have already agreed a deal with Real Madrid for a transfer on a free transfer in 2024 – a scenario that PSG boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi is not in favour of, although Mbappé cannot be prevented from doing so by contract. Real may also be speculating that the price tag for Mbappé will get smaller and smaller between now and the end of the transfer window on 1 September as the pressure mounts for PSG. Then the World Cup top scorer could join the Royals this summer after all and be rid of the risk of sitting on the PSG bench for a year and tarnishing his image in France.
Klopp: “We laugh about it “
One rumour carried by numerous media outlets, especially in England, on the other hand, has been put to rest: there will be no loan deal to Liverpool FC to see out the year. “We laugh about it,” coach Jürgen Klopp said on “Sky”. “I can say that I think he is a really good player. But the financial conditions do not fit us at all now. ”
No late twists in Kylian Mbappé saga – deadline of July 31 is over and Mbappé can’t activate the option to extend his PSG contract until June 2025. ⚠️
The contract officially expires in June 2024 now.
PSG keep thinking he agreed with Real Madrid – but Kylian remains for sale. pic.twitter.com/5KjaNhhX6C
– Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 31, 2023
While he would “hate to ruin history”, Klopp added. “But as far as I know, there’s nothing to it. But it could be that someone else from the club is preparing something and wants to surprise me. But that hasn’t happened yet in the eight years I’ve been here. That would be the first time. ”
Dembelé seems to be behaving more correctly this time than in Dortmund
Independently of the Mbappé case, PSG are working on the signing of Ousmane Dembelé, who wants to leave FC Barcelona for the French homeland after six years. As already leaked on Monday, the ex-Dortmund man asked Barça to be allowed to negotiate with PSG, but waived his 50-million-euro clause until midnight. According to “L’Equipe” and other media, Dembelé wants both clubs to find a good solution for all sides – allegedly also because he would have been entitled to half of the exit clause personally, meaning Barça would have had to sell him far below value.
Whether the clubs will reach an agreement is likely to be decided in the coming days, and the chances are not bad. Dembelé, in any case, seems to be behaving a lot more correctly in his desire to transfer than he did when he left Dortmund on strike in 2017.
