Real Madrid wait for PSG's demands as Mbappe refuses to sign a deal

PETE JENSON: Real Madrid have been stung before by Kylian Mbappe and will wait for PSG’s next move… a £171m fee could tempt them to act NOW instead of waiting to get him on a free

• Kylian Mbappe shockingly revealed that he would not stay at PSG beyond 2024 
• The French champions will consider cashing in on their superstar this summer 
• Real Madrid will wait to hear the figure that PSG consider acceptable for a sale 

Real Madrid have a plan and the only obstacle to it working is the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Kylian Mbappe has done his job by writing to inform Paris Saint Germain that he will not be renewing his contract.

Now the French champions have a choice: they can sell him for a fee this summer or let him leave for free in 2024.

Wrapped up in the story that broke last night was the assertion that they are staunchly against losing him for nothing. But that may just be wishful thinking on the part of Mbappe whose people, it seems, gave the story to L’Equipe.

Everything that we have seen from the Qatar Sports Investments since they took over PSG in 2012 suggests they wont lose a minute of sleep if Mbappe goes for free in 2024 – money is no object, it never has been.

Kylian Mbappe has revealed he will not stay at PSG beyond the end of his contract in 2024

The Emir of Qatar has Mbappe’s future in his hands with PSG facing a sale or losing him for free

Mbappe is central to PSG’s promotion with Lionel Messi gone and Neymar likely to leave

Ever since Barcelona tried to sign Marquinhos from them in 2016 and were told they had no chance it has been the same record on repeat. It happened to Barcelona again with Marco Verratti and later when they tried to re-sign Neymar. PSG don’t sell their best players.

With Messi gone and Neymar going, Mbappe is all that they have left. He’s the best player in the world, the local boy, and front and centre of all their promotion for next season. If they lose him the cupboard is bare.

PSG’s unofficial Director of football Luis Campos might well tell the club’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi that keeping an unhappy Mbappe for another season will only make for another poisonous campaign with unhappy supporters and nothing uniting the team. Al-Khelaifi might even agree. But if when he puts that to the Emir in Qatar and is told that under no circumstances does Mbappe leave this summer then Madrid need to go back to finding another way to deal with the surprise departure of Karim Benzema.

Benzema was supposed to stay for the last year of his contract. And in 2024 Real Madrid were supposed to sign Mbappe on a free transfer. He was never going to sign a one-year extension to his current deal in Paris.

Benzema’s decision wrecked the perfect timing of that plan and sent Madrid stumbling into a quickly improvised pursuit of Harry Kane and Kai Havertz. Neither deal really convinces them. Mbappe is the one they want and now they must wait to see how PSG’s owners react to the gauntlet that’s been thrown down by their star player.

Madrid are not going to make the first move. They are still stung by missing out on him twice in the last two years. But if Mbappe is given a magic number by PSG – the sum they will accept to lose him – then he will take that to Florentino Perez and if the fee is feasible for Real Madrid, bearing in mind that PSG are not likely to be open to being paid in installments, they get the player they thought they would have to wait another year for.

If the figure set is €200m (£171m) then for all that Madrid have vowed not to give PSG a single euro for their player it will be seriously considered. Signing Kane now would cost in excess of €100m (£86m) and Mbappe on a free next summer would mean paying him an eye-watering signing on fee so paying €200m (£171m) now would not necessarily be seen as bad business.

If he signs then he becomes Carlo Ancelotti’s beautiful problem. His favourite starting position is the left of a front three where Vinicius wants to play. Carletto is unlikely to lose much sleep over how to make it work. As coaches and players never tire of repeating good players can always play together.

Real Madrid have been stung before by Kylian Mbappe and will wait for PSG’s response

Karim Benzema’s surprise move to Saudi Arabia created an unexpected issue for Real Madrid

Carlo Ancelotti would have to find a way for Mbappe to play with Vinicius Jnr should he join

If Mbappe can be persuaded by the genial Ancelotti to become a centre-forward taking Karim Benzema’s place in the team then the cosmetic surgery to the team will be minimal. 

If he can’t then in a 4-2-3-1 Real Madrid could play with Rodrygo Goes up top and Fede Valverde, Mbappe, and Vinicius from right to left in front of Jude Bellingham and Eduardo Camavinga.

Ancelotti, a former PSG coach himself, will know not to start worrying too much about the permutations just yet. The next move in this sage needs to be made in Paris, or more accurately, in Qatar.

Real Madrid with Mbappe version 1 

REAL MADRID POSSIBLE XI (3-4-3): Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Garcia; Bellingham, Kroos, Camavinga; Rodrgyo, Mbappe, Vinicius

Real Madrid with Mbappe version 2 

REAL MADRID POSSIBLE XI (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Garcia; Bellingham, Camavinga; Valverde, Mbappe, Vinicius; Rodrygo

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