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Real Madrid Deny Kylian Mbappe Agreement Amid £240M Transfer Rumours
July 4, 2018
Real Madrid issued a statement on Wednesday dismissing reports they have agreed a deal with Paris Saint-Germain for Kylian Mbappe.
It was reported by French journalist Baptiste Ripart (h/t Football Espana) that Los Blancos were to pay €272 million (£240 million) to sign the France international this summer in a world-record deal.
However, the European champions released a statement on their official website denying that's the case:
"Given the information published in the last few hours regarding an alleged agreement between Real Madrid C.F. and PSG for the player Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid would like to state that it is completely false.
"Real Madrid has not made any offer to PSG or the player and condemns the spreading of this type of information that has not been proven by the parties concerned."
Ben Hayward of Goal suggested the statement will do little to quell speculation surrounding interest in the player:
As noted by Football Espana, the report from France came from the same source who broke the news of Antoine Griezmann signing a new contract at Atletico Madrid and that Thomas Lemar would be joining the Wanda Metropolitano outfit.
The official line from Real comes two days on from a similar statement issued regarding interest in Mbappe's PSG team-mate Neymar.
Los Blancos said speculation from Spanish TV that they'd agreed a deal to sign the Brazilian was "absolutely untrue."
The focus of the football world has been on Mbappe recently, as he turned in a remarkable performance in the FIFA World Cup showdown between France and Argentina. After winning the penalty to help France open the scoring, he netted twice in a thrilling 4-3 win for the Albiceleste.
This graphic summed up an afternoon to remember for the youngster, who tore the Argentina defence to pieces with his searing speed:
Mbappe has shown his class prior to Saturday's contest, scoring a goal against Peru already in the tournament.
In French football he's been outstanding for the last two campaigns as well. In 2016-17 he was a crucial figure as Monaco won the Ligue 1 title and made it to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. On the back of that, Mbappe made the switch to PSG and was a vital player as the team earned a domestic treble.
Despite only joining PSG last summer speculation has increased surrounding Mbappe's future. As noted by Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph, it would be in keeping with Madrid's previous transfer policies if they did make a move:
Alex Shaw of ESPN was critical of Madrid for releasing statements about Neymar and Mbappe:
With speculation beginning to gather pace that Cristiano Ronaldo may be on his way to Juventus—according to Marca's Jesus Sanchez, the Portuguese is looking for a home in Turin—Madrid may be on the hunt for a new attacking talisman this summer.
As things stand, that appears unlikely to be Mbappe. Even if there was interest in the forward from the Spanish capital, it's difficult to see why PSG would be willing to let go of one of the game's best prospects so soon.