Paris Saint-Germain have received a €300million (£259m; $332m) offer for Kylian Mbappe from Al Hilal and have given the Saudi Pro League club permission to talk to the forward.
Mbappe’s future was plunged into fresh doubt on Friday after the 24-year-old was left out of PSG’s pre-season tour and put up for sale in the latest escalation of his contract saga.
The France international has the option to extend his stay in Paris by a further year to 2025, but with the clause expiring at the end of the month, PSG are preparing for the new season without him.
Mbappe has long appeared intent on joining Real Madrid, who failed to sign him last summer, but Al Hilal have now lodged an official offer for the player.
Any deal would constitute a world-record transfer fee and see Mbappe earn a hugely lucrative salary.
Mbappe last month informed PSG that he would not be exercising the option in his deal signed last summer — but intended to stay for this coming season.
PSG, in a letter written to the forward, asked Mbappe clarify his position by July 15, but have claimed to have received no communication from Mbappe or his camp this week.
They have subsequently deemed he is intent on joining Real Madrid on a free transfer next year, and are understood to be willing to bench him this season if he does not finalise a move to another club this summer.
The French club, who insist they are confident in their legal position on the situation, have been expected to accept considerably less than the €180m they spent to sign the player in 2017 if they sell Mbappe to a European rival.
The Athletic revealed in January that Madrid have not ceased contact with Mbappe’s entourage after their initial thwarted move.
Al Hilal have already signed Ruben Neves from Wolves, Kalidou Koulibaly from Chelsea and Sergei Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio this summer.
The club, along with Al Ahli, Al Ittihad and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, is one of four sides who will now be controlled by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund as part of a major shake-up announced in June.
The fact that PSG took the unprecedented step to omit Mbappe from their tour to Japan and South Korea underlines where the power lies. He holds the cards. His contract runs until the end of the coming season, and PSG gave him the power to decide whether or not to extend it until the summer of 2025.
If Mbappe’s final season at the Parc des Princes is spent confined to the substitutes bench, it will affect his on-field legacy. So would leaving without a fee, as PSG can claim that he is hurting the club financially by doing so and therefore impacting their ability to succeed in the future.
