Paris Saint-Germain attacker Kylian Mbappe is left out of the French champions’ kit launch for the 2024-25 season amid the expectation that he will join Real Madrid.
Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain have dropped potentially the biggest hint yet that Kylian Mbappe will not be at the club next season.
The former Monaco starlet has now entered the last two months of his contract with Les Parisiens, and he is expected to depart for Real Madrid on a free transfer during the summer transfer window.
Neither PSG nor Los Blancos have officially confirmed Mbappe’s decision, and the France international is also yet to make a public announcement, but the signs have been there for a few months now.
In February, Mbappe apparently told PSG that he would be leaving the club when his deal expires at the end of the season, and he has often been omitted from the starting XI or substituted early by head coach Luis Enrique ever since.
The PSG boss has stated on a few occasions that the French champions must get used to playing without the 25-year-old, whose hopes of finally leading his side to Champions League glory crashed and burned in Tuesday’s semi-final loss to Borussia Dortmund.
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PSG leave Mbappe out of kit launch
On Friday morning, the French champions unveiled their new home kit for the 2024-25 season, which saw a selection of men’s and women’s players model the strip for the club’s media channels.
The likes of Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes and Lucas Hernandez were seen sporting the new jersey, as was teenage midfield sensation Warren Zaire-Emery, who has just signed a new deal with the club until 2029.
However, Mbappe was nowhere to be seen in the official videos or photos, further suggesting that PSG’s all-time leading goalscorer will be on the way out of the Parc des Princes this summer.
Enrique’s men have just four games left to play this season, concluding a successful Ligue 1 campaign against Toulouse, Nice and Metz before facing Lyon in the Coupe de France final on May 25.
Sunday’s clash with Toulouse will be Les Parisiens’ final home game of the season and therefore Mbappe’s last match at the Parc des Princes, and according to Le Parisien, a ceremony will take place to allow the attacker to bid farewell to the club’s fans.
Mbappe soap opera nearing an end
© Reuters
As such, an announcement on Mbappe’s anticipated exit from the French capital could precede Sunday’s contest, as the World Cup winner finally prepares to end his prolific seven-year stay in Paris.
Mbappe will leave the club as the highest male goalscorer in the history of PSG with 255 goals in just 306 games, including 43 strikes from 46 appearances in the 2023-24 season, but he will depart without a Champions League winners’ medal in his suitcase.
The 25-year-old’s Bernabeu switch will bring the curtain down on a protracted transfer saga, which saw Real Madrid fail with two bids north of £100m in the summer of 2021, one year before Mbappe surprisingly penned fresh terms in Paris.
The Frenchman memorably held up a PSG jersey with the number “2025” on the back during his renewal ceremony, but his new terms were only a two-year extension with the option of a further 12 months, which he refused to activate.
PSG desperately tried to force Mbappe out of the door for a fee last summer after learning of his refusal, and the French champions will now witness the world’s second-most expensive player leave for nothing, although they will save hundreds of millions of pounds in wages and his unpaid loyalty bonus.