Kylian Mbappe wants to stay at Paris St-Germain for now but says he will not extend his contract beyond 2024.
On Tuesday he tweeted he “will continue” at PSG, but a letter from his camp said next season would be his last at the club.
Mbappe says PSG were first told on 15 July, 2022 of his decision to reject the extension.
Official correspondence has followed to that effect this week, with Mbappe saying the “only aim of the letter was to confirm what had already been spoken about”.
However, PSG are prepared to sell their record goalscorer this summer rather than risk losing him for free in a year’s time.
Mbappe said reports he wants to join Real Madrid this summer were “lies”.
His camp told the AFP news agency on Tuesday the possibility of extending his contract “has not been discussed since [he informed PSG last year] over the course of the year, except a fortnight ago to announce the sending of the letter”.
“No potential contract extension has been mentioned,” they added.
“After maintaining publicly in recent weeks that he would be a PSG player next season, Kylian Mbappe has not asked to leave this summer and has just confirmed to the club that he would not be activating the extra year.”
If Mbappe is sold this summer, Real Madrid are long-time admirers of the Frenchman, although he rejected a move to the Bernabeu to stay at PSG last year.
The exit of Karim Benzema to Saudi Arabia means Real need a striker, but it was thought Tottenham’s Harry Kane was top of their list.
Mbappe, who joined PSG in 2017 initially on loan from Monaco before a 180m euro move, has scored 212 goals in 260 games.
He has 38 goals in 68 games for France, including a hat-trick in last year’s World Cup final in Qatar, as France lost to Argentina on penalties.
Mbappe finished as Ligue 1’s top scorer in each of the past five seasons and has won five league titles in his six seasons at PSG.
PSG ended 2022-23 with just the Ligue 1 title after once again failing to win the Champions League, losing to Bayern Munich in the last 16.
Mbappe would be the second high-profile forward to depart Parc des Princes this summer, after Argentina forward Lionel Messi left at the end of his two-year contract to join Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami.
Neymar, the third member of PSG’s superstar frontline last season, has been linked with a big-money move to Saudi Arabia.
‘PSG’s position won’t change’
L’Equipe’s Loic Tanzi speaking to BBC World Service
The most important thing in Mbappe’s statement today is that once again he is saying he doesn’t want to leave the club this summer and that’s important because now, it’s all about PSG.
They have to open the door (to a transfer this summer). In my understanding he will leave because he doesn’t want to renew and his position won’t change and I think PSG’s position won’t change so I think they will open the door (to a transfer) before the end of the market.
The more complicated thing now is to find an agreement with Real Madrid because PSG won’t want to do any gifts to Real and the Spanish club will try for a low price because they will say they don’t want to pay a big amount of money for a player who is out of contract in a year.
I think he wants to go to Real Madrid, but Liverpool is also there since many years as well. They kept contact with the family for many years. And I would add Manchester United because they will have a new project soon under new owners.
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