Messi meets Mbappe in first training as PSG player
French forward Kylian Mbappe has said he did not choose to remain at Paris Saint Germain due to Lionel Messi joining the club on a two-year contract.
The PSG forward revealed this in an interview with French national daily L’Équipe.
“I was not changing my mind because of Leo Messi’s arrival… it’s a privilege, he’s great, but I don’t make decisions on sudden impulses. I had made my decisions and I had thought long and hard about it,” he said.
Before Messi’s arrival at the club in August, Mbappe was linked with a transfer to Spanish mega-club Real Madrid, which he confirmed in the interview.
He had said, “I wanted to leave PSG. When I say leave, I’m talking about Real Madrid. Real made an offer. I thought that my time at PSG was over. Leaving was the logical next step.”
“Before the Euros, I told Paris Saint-Germain that I didn’t want to renew, and after the Euros I said I wanted to leave. My ambition was for everyone to move forward hand in hand, the selling club, the buying club and me. But they [PSG] said no and wanted me to stay.”
Real Madrid were willing to pay £197m for Kylian Mbappe but PSG failed to respond to their bid, determined to let Mbappe off only when his contract expires at the end of the season, when he will be able to join Madrid on a free transfer.
Since joining PSG from Ligue 1 rivals Monaco for €180m in 2017, he has gone on to win three French titles and three French cups with the side. Mbappe was also part of the France squad that lifted the World Cup in Russia in 2018.
The 22-year-old has scored 4 goals this season and assisted Leo Messi to his first ever goal in a PSG shirt, partaking in a quick one-two with the Argentine before the latter sent the ball flying past Ederson in their group stage Champions League game against Manchester City last Tuesday.
Speaking on his future, Mbappe told L’Équipe, “Am I going to leave 100%? I’ve been in football long enough now to know that yesterday’s truth is not necessarily today’s. If I was told that Messi was going to play at PSG, I wouldn’t have believed it…so you never know what’s going to happen.” (Punch)
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