French soccer star Kylian Mbappe has revealed the secret of his future. The 23-year-old world champion has extended his contract with Paris Saint-Germain until June 30, 2025 and will not move to Real Madrid. “I am convinced that I can continue to grow at a club that offers everything necessary to perform at the highest level,” said Mbappe on Saturday. His previous contract in Paris expired at the end of the season, so he could have switched for free.
This ends a month-long debate about the exceptional talent. Mbappe wanted to leave PSG last summer after superstar Lionel Messi was signed, for which he was booed by his own fans at the start of the season. He turned down a new PSG offer for a five-year contract with a reported salary of 50 million euros per season. Real made several offers for Mbappe, on the last day of the transfer window Real had offered over 200 million euros, but PSG declined.
Spanish league wants to lodge a complaint
Even before the contract was confirmed, Mbappe’s stay in Paris had caused violent reactions in Spain. The head of the Spanish league, Javier Tebas, ranted on Twitter that the way the probably very expensive extension was an “insult” to football. PSG President Nasser al-Khelaifi is “as dangerous as the Super League”. However, Real was one of the founding members of the very Super League that failed miserably last year.
The Spanish league announced that it would lodge a complaint against the contract with the European Football Union (UEFA), the French administrative and tax authorities and the European Union. This type of agreement would undermine the economic stability of European football, endangering hundreds of thousands of jobs and the integrity of the sport, it said.
Mbappe puts together triple pack
In any case, all the excitement about the contract extension should not have left any traces on Mbappe, unimpressed by this, the superstar put together a triple pack in Paris’ 5-0 home win against Metz in the last league game of the season. While Metz has to find its way into the second division together with Bordeaux, Mbappe was top scorer in Ligue 1 for the fourth time in a row with 28 goals.
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