The Frenchman revealed he wanted the club to get a fee and find a quality replacement by leaving this window. Mbappe’s contract with PSG expires next summer, making him a free agent to join any club he wishes.
It was also rumoured that he rejected several contract renewal proposals from PSG, indicating that this will be his final season with the club. However, Mbappe turned those rumours down and suggested he never spoke to Leonardo Araujo, the Sporting Director at Parc de Princes.
“I asked to leave, because from the moment I did not want to extend, I wanted the club to have a transfer fee to have a quality replacement. It is a club which brought me a lot, I have always been happy, the four years that I spent here, and I still am.
I announced it early enough that the club could turn around. I wanted everyone to come out grown up, to go out hand in hand, to make a good deal, and I respected that. I said, if you don’t don’t want me to leave, I will stay,”
the 22-year-old said in an interview with RMC Sport.
Mbappe joined PSG on loan in 2017 from AS Monaco, before the 9-time French champions agreed to pay 180 million euros in instalments. This was the second biggest transfer to have happened in football history, with his PSG teammate Neymar Jr pipping his fee record by 42 million euros.
Mbappe’s transfer is the biggest among teenagers, and is 54 million Euros more than the second-best in this category (Joao Felix to Atletico Madrid).
He has shown tremendous output at the club and international level, making him a serious contender to win the Ballon d’Or in the future. For PSG, he has scored 136 goals and assisted 66 times in 182 games, taking his goal-contribution average over 1 per game.
