In a startling diatribe, the club’s former sporting director Leonardo ordered Kylian Mbappe to quit Paris Saint-Germain.
Mbappe cast doubt on his future earlier this summer when he revealed that he will not be staying at PSG beyond the end of the 2023-24 season. The World Cup winner turned down a move to Real Madrid last summer in favor of signing a new two-year contract with PSG, but speculation about a return to the Santiago Bernabeu has resurfaced.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has stated that Mbappe would not be allowed to leave the club as a free agent next year, with offers for a valued asset due to be invited if he does not agree to a contract by the end of the month. Leonardo worked with Mbappe at Parc des Princes for three seasons before leaving last summer, and he believes that the French champions should cut relations with their star forward now.
“For the good of PSG, I think the time has come for Mbappe to go, no matter what,” Leonardo said in an interview with L’Equipe. “Paris-Saint-Germain existed before Kylian Mbappe and it will exist after him. He’s been in Paris for six years and, over those six seasons, five different clubs have won the Champions League (Real Madrid in 2018 and 2022, Liverpool in 2019, Bayern Munich in 2020, Chelsea in 2021 and Manchester City in 2023), none of which had Mbappe in their ranks. That means it’s entirely possible to win this competition without him.”
Leonardo went on to say that Mbappe has had a bad impact behind the scenes at Parc des Princes: “With his behavior over the last two years, Mbappe is showing that he’s not yet a player capable of really guiding a team. He’s a great player, not a leader. He’s a great goalscorer, not a creative one. It’s hard to build a team around him.”
Mbappe, who won the Golden Boot for the fifth year in a row after scoring 29 goals in Ligue 1 last season, fueled rumors about his future by publicly criticizing PSG in an interview with France Football last week. He stated: “We are in a consumer society, where ‘it’s good, but do it again’. And the fact that I’m right next door, in Paris… I think playing at PSG doesn’t help much because it’s a divisive team, a divisive club. So, of course, it attracts gossip, but it doesn’t bother me because I know what I’m doing and how I do it.”
According to reports, if Mbappe refuses to extend his contract, PSG will want a €200 million (£171 million/$217 million) transfer fee. Real Madrid remains the most likely next destination for the 24-year-old, but he is also garnering interest from Premier League giants Liverpool and Arsenal.
