It’s not a summer transfer window if Kylian Mbappé isn’t the subject of drama and it seems Manchester United could find themselves in the middle of it.
That’s at least what El Pais say today, reporting that the Qataris ‘intention is to sell the player to Manchester United’ this summer, a deal they’ve been planning since February.
The newspaper covers reports that Mbappé has told PSG’s Qatari leadership that he does not intend to exercise a clause to extend his deal at the club to 2025 and how that could lead to him being sold this year.
According to their information this came after those in charge at PSG’s leadership told him that they want to transfer him to Manchester United if they are bought by the Qatar Investment Bank earlier this year.
This was relayed to the Frenchman all the way back in February, with it made clear that they were ‘considering agreeing’ his transfer to Old Trafford provided he approved it and that they were bought by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, chairman of QIB.
According to sources at the French club, Mbappé did not commit to anything but said he found the idea ‘interesting’. He then told the club on Monday of his intention to not exercise the PSG extension clause.
That coincided with reports that Sheikh Jassim had won the race for Manchester United, although that now appears to have been nothing more than social media jumping the gun.
Either way, the timing was interesting to say the least given it came around the same time that Mbappé had made his intentions clear via his latest drama in Paris.
Sources at PSG are now warning those in Madrid, where Mbappé had been expected to end up if he does leave this summer, that Qatar’s ‘intention is to sell the player to United’.
People close to Nasser al-Khelaïfi indicate that the Qatari agents involved in the takeover of Manchester United are proposing a ‘win-win situation’ for Mbappé.
He would play for the richest team in England, in the strongest league in the world and see PSG compensated with €200m in the process. PSG, who the player says are his dream club since childhood, would be out of pocket if he leaves next season at the end of his contract.
Therefore, everyone would win with the deal, even if it does raise questions about underhand deals between clubs owned by different sources from the same state.
