Mbappe Refuses To Extend PSG Contract After Messi’s Exit

Kylian Mbappe told Paris Saint-Germain on Monday, June 12, 2023, that he would not be taking up an option to extend his contract until 2025, raising the spectre of him following Lionel Messi out of the club this summer.

The 24-year-old France striker’s current deal expires at the end of next season, with the option of another year.

If he does not sign, the French champions risk losing him for nothing in a year’s time — so they could now sell him this summer rather than miss out on a windfall for one of the world’s best players.

Mbappe’s decision not to renew, announced in a letter to the club and revealed by the French sports daily L’Equipe, is a fresh blow to PSG following the loss of Messi to Inter Miami.

There had been a deadline of July 31, 2023, for Mbappe to decide.

Mbappe’s move comes a little over a year since he snubbed Real Madrid by signing a surprise extension to his contract to remain at the Parc des Princes.

Mbappe’s entourage did not respond immediately when asked late Monday evening.

The striker’s departure for free at the end of his current contract, in the summer of 2024, would prove catastrophic for PSG.

In addition to the void left in the team, the club would also be deprived of the millions of euros a transfer would earn.

The future of Brazilian fellow star striker Neymar, under contract until 2025, also appears vague ahead of what is shaping up to be a summer of upheaval in the French capital.

Mbappe joined PSG on a season-long loan from Monaco in August 2017 that turned into a permanent deal worth 180 million euros ($194 million).

He helped France to World Cup glory as a teenager in 2018 and has established himself as arguably the leading forward on the global stage.

Mbappe also scored a hat-trick in France’s 2022 World Cup final defeat to Messi’s Argentina and helped Paris Saint-Germain win a record 11th French title.