PARIS (AP) — Less than six months after Kylian Mbappé extended his contract with Paris Saint-Germain, the French star is reportedly looking for a way out.
The World Cup winner had been close to joining Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer but finally agreed to stay at PSG for two more years with an option for an extra season.
A series of reports published in France on Tuesday by several media including L’Equipe sports daily, RMC, and Le Parisien, as well as Marca in Spain, say that Mbappé is frustrated and wants to leave during January’s transfer window.
PSG sports adviser Luis Campos, who is close to Mbappé, told Canal+ broadcaster that the France forward never told him he planned to move away in January.
“It’s information that comes before a match, it’s very serious, this is the reason why I’m here, to deny,” Campos said.
Other PSG officials declined to comment when asked whether Mbappé expressed his desire to join another club and if he would be allow to leave.
The club has dominated the French league since cash-rich Qatari investors took over in 2011 but has failed to replicate that success on the European stage despite spending massive amounts on star players.
Club officials had hoped Mbappé’s decision to snub the Spanish giant would finally lead to the conquest of club soccer’s biggest trophy — the Champions League — and it’s unlikely they will let him go without a fight.
PSG hosts Benfica later Tuesday in the Champions League at the Parc des Princes.
Earlier this season, Mbappé ducked a question on the project that had been presented to him in late May to convince him to stay, refusing to say if he was happy with how it materialized.
More recently, he suggested that he would rather play alongside with another striker — like he does with the France national team — rather than in a pivot role up front.
PSG coach Christophe Galtier said this week that the club tried to recruit another striker with a different profile to allow Mbappé to play in his preferred position, but that it did not happen.
“I don’t know what Kylian has been told before I joined or when he prolonged with Paris Saint-Germain,” Galtier said.
Mbappé joined PSG from Monaco in 2017 when he was still a teenager. He has often said that playing for Madrid was his childhood dream. Even when he signed his extension, the Frenchman did not rule out making the move one day.
“What will happen in the future, I don’t know,” he said in May.
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