The stand-off between Kylian Mbappé (24) and Paris St. Germain goes into the next round. He will probably not be in the squad for next weekend’s competitive kick-off
Not injured, not suspended, not banged up – and for more than a few people, the best footballer on the planet. Yet Paris St Germain will, by all accounts, not field Kylian Mbappé for the start of the new season. At any rate, the indications of this are growing stronger.
As “RMC Sport” reported on Sunday evening, Mbappé will not be part of the first training group when PSG resume training in Paris on Monday after the completed Asia trip. Before setting off for Japan just over a fortnight ago, the big bang had occurred when the club had not included Mbappé on the list of the travelling party. Instead, Mbappé had stayed in Paris and trained there. His status will not change now that his colleagues around new coach Luis Enrique have returned – although the club may face a tremor if the fronts harden further.
According to the report, Mbappé will take to the pitch at the Poissy training centre at 10am with the so-called “Lofteurs“, the training group 2. It is made up of players the club does not consider part of the first team – and features prominently: Besides Mbappé, it includes two other world champions in Julian Draxler and Leandro Paredes, and a former Champions League winner in Georginio Wijnaldum.
League opener likely without Mbappé
The “Training Group 1”, the squad of the first team, is not expected until 5 pm for training, which will kick off preparations for the league opener against Lorient next Saturday. Given the circumstances, it is currently considered highly unlikely that Mbappé will appear on the scoresheet for the match. The French press also does not expect Mbappé to play for PSG in the away match in Toulouse on matchday 2.
Nothing is happening in the poker game for the services of the 2018 World Cup winner: Mbappé wants to sit out his contract, PSG will not let him leave on a 2024 transfer – and the designated buyer Real Madrid continues to play for time. According to “L’Equipe”, the PSG management expects Real to make an official offer only in the last days of the transfer period, which will be too low to be accepted.
The newspaper itself, on the other hand, wants to know that Real will only enter into negotiations for a transfer this summer if Mbappé publicly declares his intention to move, in order to avoid a situation like the one in 2022, when Mbappé surprisingly decided to stay at PSG after all. However, if he expresses his desire to move this time, the Madrilenians around President Florentino Perez are even said to be prepared to pay up to 200 million euros.
