Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe has refused to meet with Al Hilal executives, potentially killing the Saudis’ ambitions of completing a world record 300 million euro ($333 million) purchase.
The French star has refused “any discussion with the representatives of the Al-Hilal club, present in Paris this Wednesday,” reported L’Equipe sports daily.
According to the source, a Saudi club delegation visited Paris to finalize the transfer of Brazilian Malcom from Zenit Saint Petersburg.
They also wanted to show Mbappe their project while he was in Paris.
“This approach will not succeed,” added L’Equipe because the entourage of the 24-year-old player “refused any discussions with the representatives of the Saudi club”.
“The captain of Les Bleus has never considered this option,” the report added.
Riyadh-based PSG had given Al Hilal permission to begin talks with Mbappe despite the fact that he had never indicated an interest in joining the fast-growing Saudi league.
Mbappe has one year left on his PSG deal, and the club would rather that he depart now rather than for free next summer.
But he refuses to sign a new contract, and the French champions believe he has already agreed to join Real Madrid next season.
Real intended to get Mbappe for free next year, enticing him with a massive signing price because they would not have to pay PSG anything for his services.
Mbappe’s feud with the French club reached a new high last weekend when they dismissed him from their team for a trip of Japan and South Korea.
There have been rumors that Mbappe will not be selected for the entire season if he cannot reach an agreement with PSG.
Mbappe, the club’s all-time leading scorer with 212 goals in 260 games, is the club’s most expensive player ever, trailing only his PSG teammate Neymar.
In August 2017, he was still a youngster when he joined PSG on a season-long loan from Monaco. The move was made permanent the following year in a 180-million-euro transaction.
Only Neymar, the Brazilian who cost PSG 222 million euros in 2017, had a higher fee.
Lionel Messi, the third member of PSG’s great trio, left at the end of last season to join MLS club Inter Miami.
The trio were unable to prevent PSG from being eliminated from the Champions League by Bayern Munich in the last 16 stage last season, despite the fact that they went on to win the French title.
Al Hilal is one of a few clubs owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia.
This summer, they have already signed central defender Kalidou Koulibaly from Chelsea and midfielder Ruben Neves from Wolves.
