Saudi Arabia has proposed a novel solution to PSG’s current Kylian Mbappé problem, and you will not be surprised to learn that said solution is an ungodly large sum of money.
Al Hilal, funded by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, has reportedly bid $332 million for Mbappé, and is prepared to offer an annual salary of $776 million.
For a one-year rental.
CBS Sports and the AP reported the bid, with the former confirming the contract offer as the Saudis attempt to take advantage of the impasse between PSG and its biggest star.
Mbappé has informed PSG that he will not sign an extension to his contract, which expires next summer, as he is widely expected to join Real Madrid on a free transfer when his contract expires.
In response, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said earlier this month that the superstar forward would not be allowed to stay and play out his contract before leaving on a free next summer. His only options would be to sign a new deal now, or be sold (by the way: that’s not how contracts work).
PSG escalated its war against its biggest star when it excluded Mbappé from the club’s preseason tour of Japan.
PSG may have been given a lifeline in the form of the massive Saudi bid, which, per CBS, incredibly comes with the assumption that Mbappé will leave next summer to join Madrid.
That’s right: $1 billion for one season.
Unsurprisingly, PSG has accepted the bid rather than lose Mbappé for nothing next summer, but that is far from the end of the story: ESPN has reported the 24-year-old is not interested in the Saudi offer.
The Saudis may be signing big names left and right this summer but when it comes to their two biggest targets, Mbappé and Lionel Messi, it looks like they are set to go 0-for-2.
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