Kylian Mbappe has spoken out against the claims that it was money that motivated him to remain at Paris Saint-Germain.
Mbappe had been the subject of transfer speculation involving Real Madrid since the 2020/21 season and came close to joining them this season.
He had both PSG’s and Madrid’s offers on his table until Saturday morning when he made the shocking decision to remain with the ten-time French Ligue 1 champions.
His new deal at the club has been said to involve a £1 million-per-week wage, a £100 million sign-on bonus, a concession on his image rights and a few other add-ons that are performance based.
This has caused tongues to wag in the media – radio, television and print – as well as on the internet – online tabloids and social media. LaLiga’s leadership, who were looking forward to welcoming Mbappe to Spain, has called the deal ‘scandalous’ and stated that they will report it to the appropriate authorities as it ignores all the financial fair play rules of the sport.
But the 23-year-old has come out to clear the air while speaking out against the reports, saying that money was only in their discussions for a few minutes.
“Everybody knows I wanted to leave last year. But things are different now, in sporting terms and personally,” Mbappe said.
“Leaving my country wasn’t the right thing. There’s a sentimental aspect to this, and the sporting project has changed as well… We spoke for months about the sporting project, and we spoke about money for just a few minutes.”
Mbappe rubbishes talk of influence on transfer decisions
There have also been reports that Mbappe will have a say in how the club is run with his new deal, which he also downplayed.
He said: “I’m not going to go beyond my role as a player. You don’t need special responsibility to be involved in this project. There’s a captain at this club, Marquinhos, and I’m not looking to take over from him. I don’t need to be captain to give my point of view.”
He then thanked Real Madrid for their efforts while refusing to rule out a PSG stay beyond his new contract.
“I made my decision last week,” Mbappe added. “I spoke to Florentino Perez, I have a lot of respect for him and for Real Madrid. They did everything to bring me there and make me happy, so I thank them for that.
“Something I’ve learnt in football is you should look ahead, but not too far ahead. A year ago I didn’t think I’d be sitting here, and now I’ve signed a new contract… I’m focusing on this new project.
“I don’t know what will happen in the future. I don’t know where I’ll be in three years.”
