Kylian Mbappé not interested in extending stay at PSG

In front of a packed Parc des Princes, PSG president Nasser Al Khelaïfi announced that Kylian Mbappé was renewing his contract until 2025 just one year ago. The forward was initially expected to remain with the club for three seasons, but that was not to be, as what was signed was a two-year contract extension, with an option for a further year that only the player could execute.

The clause, which expires on 31 July, may not be exercised by Mbappé. According to information from L’Équipe in France, the forward has no intention of renewing his contract with PSG as it stands. The current Ligue 1 leaders have squandered the first year of their star player’s new contract, reneging on the promises Al Khelaïfi made to convince him to stay in Paris and leaving his future up in the air.

PSG may now once again experience the same situation they experienced last year. If Mbappé does not execute the renewal clause, the French side will have to sit down with his entourage and with the player for negotiations that are expected to be intense. Last year, the club did the impossible and convinced him to renew, with Emmanuel Macron, president of France, even entering the talks.

Mbappé's ups and downs over the course of the season have affected his decision not to renew. In August, at the start of the season, there was “Penalty-Gate”, a dispute between Neymar and Mbappé that led to internal tension at PSG. Neymar found out that his team-mate had not opposed his sale in the summer and decided to take a penalty against Montpellier, when Christophe Galtier had Mbappé down as the penalty-taker.

The problems kept piling up. In September - before a Champions League match against Benfica - it came out that Mbappé wanted to leave in January, feeling betrayed by Al Khelaïfi. The president promised him an ambitious, winning project with sporting certainties, which did not materialise in the summer. The Frenchman threatened to leave the club, which triggered an internal crisis that reached its peak with a Mediapart report claiming that PSG had created fake accounts to rebuke Mbappé and to put pressure on his renewal.

Weeks later, L’Équipe reported that PSG had failed to pay the player his salary, which was seen as a tug-of-war between the two sides to see who had the upper hand. Suspicions that a divorce was inevitable were allayed after the World Cup in Qatar. Both sides decided to put the common good first and, although the season has been a disappointment - especially after the elimination in the last 16 of the Champions League - there is no longer the same climate of tension as at the beginning of the season.

However, Mbappé hit back in April after PSG launched a season ticket campaign with him as the headline act without the player’s permission. In a social media post, he reiterated that the club was not “Kylian Saint-Germain” and that image rights were a fundamental right for any elite athlete.

Mbappé will be free to negotiate with the club of his choice from January. Not executing his renewal clause in no way means that he will leave in the summer, nor does it mean that he will leave as a free agent in 2024. PSG will not give up, just as they did not give up last year before they managed to convince him to stay. The scenario now is quite different. If the club cannot surround him with a competitive team that can aspire to compete in the Champions League, his departure in 2024 will be almost certain.