Kylian Mbappe: PSG went to incredible lengths to convince striker to snub Real Madrid

Paris Saint-Germain pledged to make sweeping changes to how the club is run and put together a staggering £650,000-a-week wage packet in their successful bid to convince star striker Kylian Mbappe to stay.

The France international, 23, rejected Real Madrid to sign a new three-year contract at the Parc des Princes, drawing a line under a long-running transfer saga before the summer window has even opened.

Mbappe duly followed up the announcement by scoring a hat-trick against Metz on Saturday night, taking his season goal tally to 39.

Kylian Mbappe poses with Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi after agreeing a three-year contract extension through until 2025 to remain at the Parc des Princes

The France striker snubbed Real Madrid to remain in Paris for at least the next three seasons

And details are now emerging of the incredible lengths PSG went to in order to persuade Mbappe to continue with them until at least 2025, making him the highest-paid player in world football.

L’Equipe report on Sunday that Mbappe was promised there would be a complete overhaul of the club’s management and a shift in focus from global marketing of the club’s brand to doing whatever is necessary to win the Champions League.

Sporting director Leonardo has been fired and further changes are anticipated in the coming days, showing the influence of Mbappe over not only the PSG team but the club as a whole.

It remains to be seen whether manager Mauricio Pochettino keeps his job after their dramatic defeat to Real in the Champions League last-16.

PSG also reportedly stressed Mbappe’s importance to French football in general, including his marketing value to grow the profile of Ligue 1 around the world and help a French club become champions of Europe.

PSG have fired their sporting director Leonardo after another Champions League failure

Manager Mauricio Pochettino could follow soon after PSG won just the Ligue 1 title

Then, of course, there is the jaw-dropping financial package that PSG prepared for Mbappe, with The Athletic reporting he will earn around £34m-a-year, which equates to roughly £653,000-a-week.

Another important factor was PSG’s willingness to give Mbappe control over his image rights. Reports in Spain suggested that while Real were prepared to give the player control of 65 per cent of these lucrative rights, PSG were more flexible.

Both the French club and Real were willing to pay Mbappe a signing-on fee of around £126m – alongside wages and bonuses.

Mbappe’s mother, Fayza Lamari, said on Friday that the 23-year-old had concluded discussions with both clubs over ‘almost identical’ offers. In the end, Mbappe made the decision to stay.

The World Cup winner has only been at PSG since 2017 but he already boasts an impressive goal tally of 168 – just 32 goals behind Edinson Cavani in the all-time top scorers list for the French giants.

During his time in Paris he’s won four Ligue 1 titles and three Coupe de France trophies, as well as being crowned the UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year for the 2021/22 campaign.

Mbappe applauds the crowd at the Parc des Princes after their match against Metz

He scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 PSG win as they rounded off a title-winning season in style

‘I would like to announce that I have chosen to extend my contract at Paris Saint-Germain, and of course I am delighted,’ Mbappe said.

‘I am convinced that here I can continue to grow at a club that provides everything necessary to perform at the highest level.

‘I am also delighted to continue to play in France, the country where I was born, where I have grown up and where I have made my name.

‘I would like to thank the President, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, for his trust, his understanding and his patience.

‘I would also like to thank all the fans of Paris Saint-Germain, both in France and around the world, for their support, especially in recent months. Together, side by side and ambitious, we will make magic in Paris.’

Mbappe was both top scorer and best player in Ligue 1 following another prolific season

The 23-year-old confirmed his contract renewal both through a video on Twitter and in person prior to kick-off against Metz.

Mbappe appeared pitch-side along with club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi to hold up the team’s kit with the name ‘Mbappe 2025’ – signaling the length of his contract extension.

He then went on to score three times in PSG’s 5-0 win, underlining precisely why they were so desperate to keep hold of him.

Following the Frenchman’s decision, La Liga have written an extraordinary statement detailing their intentions to report PSG’s actions to UEFA and the French authorities.

The Spanish league claim that they will file a complaint as they believe the terms of Mbappe’s new contract at PSG ‘threatens the economic sustainability of European football.’

FULL LA LIGA STATEMENT

‘Faced with Kylian Mbappé’s possible announcement of remaining at Paris Saint-Germain, LaLiga wants to state that this type of agreement threatens the economic sustainability of European football, putting hundreds of thousands of jobs and sporting integrity at risk in the medium term, not only from European competitions, but also from our domestic leagues.

‘It is scandalous that a club like PSG, which last season lost more than 220 million euros, after having accumulated losses of 700 million euros in recent seasons (even declaring income from sponsorships of a very dubious amount) with a cost of sports staff around 650 million for this 21/22 season, can face an agreement of these characteristics while those clubs that could accept the arrival of the player without seeing their wage bill compromised, are left without being able to sign him.

‘For all of the above, LaLiga is going to file a complaint against PSG before UEFA, administrative and tax authorities in France and before the competent bodies of the European Union to continue defending the economic ecosystem of European football and its sustainability. .

‘On previous occasions, LaLiga has already made complaints against PSG for non-compliance with UEFA’s financial fair play as a result of which UEFA harshly sanctioned PSG, although the CAS revoked them in a strange resolution.

‘LaLiga and many European football institutions were hopeful that with the entry of the PSG president, Mr. Nasser Al-Khelaifi, into European football management bodies such as the former UEFA or the ECA Presidency, he would refrain from carrying out these practices knowing the serious damage they cause, but it has not been like that, quite the opposite. Being PSG with unacceptable salary masses, with large economic losses in previous seasons, it assumes an impossible investment in this situation, which undoubtedly implies non-compliance with the current economic control regulations not only of UEFA, but of French football itself. .

‘These behaviors denote even more that the state clubs do not respect or want to respect the rules of an economic sector as important as football, key to the sustainability of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

‘This type of behavior led by Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of PSG, due to his status as a member of the former UEFA, president of the ECA, is a danger to European football at the same level as the Super League.’

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