Big twist? Real Madrid reportedly wants to bring Mbappé back in January, offers €50m

Showtime. The merry-go-round of speculation about what will happen to Kylian Mbappe is spinning. One hot piece of news comes from football agent Giovanni Branchini, who is very close to Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, among others. According to him, Los Blancos will try to get Mbappé as early as January.

The current situation is as follows. Mbappe’s contract at PSG expires in the summer, and from 1 January he can sign a new contract with any club he would transfer to for free in the summer. Almost no one doubts that the French striker will leave for Real Madrid, which has been his wish since forever. He admitted it during the autumn.

Now it’s just a matter of sorting out when that will happen. Originally, the plan was that Los Blancos president Florentino Pérez would indeed wait until the summer and get one of the best footballers in the world completely for free. But there was a hitch. With Real Madrid and PSG drawn together in the Champions League eighth-finals, Mbappé will have to face his (presumably) future employer.

That’s something Madrid would like to avoid. In an interview with La Gazzetta, Italian agent Giovanni Branchini gave an interesting report. “Now it all depends on PSG. Real Madrid would like to acquire Mbappé immediately and a few days ago offered PSG 50 million euros,” Branchini said.

The Parisians now have two options. Sell Mbappé now and get at least some money for him, 50 million is certainly not a negligible price tag. Or keep him, try to win the Champions League with him and let him leave for free in the summer, even though he is the second most expensive player in history. PSG paid Monaco 120 million euros for his transfer.

Given the big egos of PSG’s owners, it’s much more likely that they will choose the second option. For the wealthy Qatari owners, money plays almost no role, on the contrary, seeing Mbappé in a Real Madrid jersey in a mutual duel in a month would be a huge embarrassment for them, which their ego would not overcome.

But there is another thing the Parisians have to think about. And that is the oft-mentioned financial fairplay. Everyone wondered in the summer how PSG can tighten the wages of Messi, Neymar, Mbappé, Ramos Donnarumma and others without going beyond financial fairplay. The answer is that in France these numbers are calculated retrospectively, not before the season. That’s why PSG could afford to inflate their budget to infinite heights.

But the day when the Parisians will have to present their accounts is approaching. And the sale of Mbappé would be a big relief for PSG. “It is a great pity for them that a player like Mbappé will leave for free. I don’t know what they want to do in Paris,” Branchini added.

Whatever happens, the next six months will be extremely hot. A January tug of war, a February and March doubleheader and Mbappé’s possible summer move to the Bernabéu. One thing is for sure, Real Madrid and PSG representatives will definitely not shake hands amicably in the summer.

Source: Marca, La Gazzetta