Chelsea will make their interest in signing Kylian Mbappe known after the Paris Saint-Germain forward told the French club he won’t extend his contract, according to reports.
The France international swapped Monaco for PSG for £160m in 2018, which was a world-record fee for a teenager, with the World Cup winner scoring 212 in 260 matches for PSG in all competitions since arriving.
According to widespread reports last night, Mbappe has informed PSG in a letter that he won’t be taking up his one-year extension on his contract at the club and will leave at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
That means he will ever leave on a free transfer in 2024 unless the French giants decide they will sell him this summer to avoid losing him for nothing.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano insists that PSG have ‘no plan to lose Kylian for free’ and he ‘could be sold’ this summer for the right price.
There have been rumours that he would still command a fee of between €180m and €200m this summer with PSG potentially losing Mbappe and Lionel Messi in the same summer.
And The Times now claims that Chelsea are ‘among the clubs interested’ in Mbappe with west Londoners ‘expected to register their interest’ in the 24-year-old.
It is understood that if PSG ‘are forced to sell him they would hope to strike a deal in which they will agree a fee for an eventual move but keep hold of him for another season’.
Real Madrid have been linked with Mbappe for several years and The Times add that they ‘appear to be the favourites given that Mbappé has previously said he has always been a supporter of the club’.
Along with Chelsea, Man Utd are described as ‘another option’ with takeover rumours rumbling on as the Glazers look for new investment in the club.
Manchester City have previously attempted to sign Mbappe before they signed Erling Haaland which ‘raises questions over whether they would target’ the Frenchman again.
The report added: ‘PSG insiders say there was extreme surprise that the story about the letter appeared in the French sports daily newspaper L’Équipe before the club had even received a copy.’
RMC Sport’s Daniel Riolo reacted in real time to the news that Mbappe would not take up his extension by calling the letter a “small declaration of war”.
“We are in a huge deal,” Riolo said on After Foot RMC. “PSG did not expect to receive this letter today. It’s a kind of small declaration of war. They are appalled at the club.
“If Mbappé announces this now, it’s because he no longer believes in promises. He no longer believes in the project. There, that changes everything for PSG. Even in the search for the coach with whom they are in discussing …”
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