Forget all that talk of Neymar to Real Madrid (for now, at least)
Days on from releasing an official statement to deny reports in Spain that they had tabled a bid for the Brazilian, it’s now being reported Real have agreed a world-record fee for his Paris Saint-Germain teammate, Kylian Mbappe.
The claim comes from French journalist Baptiste Ripart – the man responsible for breaking news of Antoine Griezmann’s contract renewal at Atlético Madrid and their signing of Thomas Lemar.
Ripart has tweeted that Real are willing to fork out €272m (nearly £240m) for Mbappe, the fee to be paid in four instalments.
https://twitter.com/RipartBaptiste/status/1014153715006271489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1014153715006271489&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.as.com%2Fen%2F2018%2F07%2F04%2Ffootball%2F1530697245_132729.html
A report in AS also adds that potential problems for PSG with Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations and the possible sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus could put the European champions in a strong position to sign the 19-year-old, who was thought to be close to joining them from AS Monaco last summer.
Mbappe has been one of the stars of the World Cup, his performance for France against Argentina in the last-16 one of the stand-out individual displays of the tournament so far.
It remains to be seen if indeed Ripart’s claims are accurate, but given his track record for this sort of thing, it’s very much worth keeping an eye on this one.
If indeed Mbappe does end up at Madrid, it seems unlikely they will also be able to fund a move for Neymar, who only arrived at PSG from Barcelona a year ago. Despite their reported concerns about meeting financial fair play regulations, it also seems improbable the French champions would be open to letting both of their star players depart in the same summer.
France back in action on Friday when they take on Uruguay in the World Cup. It’s unlikely there will be any further developments on Mbappe’s future until Didier Deschamps’ side are home from the tournament.
