Tick, tock, tock, tock. Josep Pedrerol and his disciples of Chiringuito, the televised high mass of Spanish football, have found a new “gimmick” for the end of the transfer window. The kind that is easy to remember and goes on repeat when you’re desperately trying to get to sleep at 3am. Tick, tock, tick, tock, it’s the sound of seconds ticking on the transfer market countdown, the end of which is scheduled for August 31 at 11.59pm. Or the time that separates us from what now seems inevitable: the departure of Kylian Mbappé to Real Madrid.
For a long time, we wondered about the strategy of the Merengue club. Would he wait until 2022 to pick his priority target or would he try it as early as 2021? The first sounds from the corridors of the transfer window rather suggested the first scenario, which the last ones have finished confirming. The days of waiting and innuendo – like those of Toni Kroos in her podcast – are over, and The team balance the sauce Wednesday: the offense of Real weighs 160 million euros.
Boom! PSG of course refused the first offer because the art of negotiation requires it, which is more in large-scale business, but the basis is fixed. And it is high, in any case enough to have surprised the Parisian leaders and sowed doubt in their minds, they who are usually so reluctant to sell their cracks, even if it means seeing them leave free and resentful. But isn’t it better, for once, to break the rule of inflexibility?
Sell, because there is an unexpected loot for a player at the end of the contract
Nasser Al-Khelaïfi’s official position on Mbappé puts the French international at the center of the project. Because he is until proven guilty the great star of his generation and that his youth offers the guarantee and the comfort of the long term. But the PSG boss knows where he is going and it is not for nothing that the club would be ready to negotiate with Real in the event of an offer of 200 million euros or more, an unexpected price for a player whose the contract expires in a year, Mbappé or not.
Unlike Barça, Casa Blanca has made its reserves and is doing even better since the sales of Varane, Odegaard and company. If Paris shows skill at the negotiating table, there is a way to recover a big check, to reinvest. The name of Brazilian striker Richarlison (Everton) is circulating and Robert Lewandowski, eager to try a new challenge, would have been proposed by Pini Zahavi. But we are talking about an operation of more than 100 million euros that it is difficult to see carried out in two, three days. Ditto for Erling Haaland, although one can imagine that Dortmund would welcome a big sale of the Norwegian, which will cost “only” 75 million euros in 2022 (thank you for the clause).
Hold back, the sports loss is too great
As interesting as it is, the prospect of cashing in a big transfer is therefore likely to be accompanied by a sporting loss. Messi, Neymar – who let us not forget is injured three months a year – Di Maria, Icardi – who does not run – it’s not bad, but it is sorely lacking in depth on the Parisian front. Not to mention that in addition to weakening, Paname would pass 40-45 annual goals to a direct competitor for victory in C1, the Qataris’ ultimate goal more than ever a year and a half away from their World Cup. Conversely, forcing Mbappé to stay another year is to watch Real Madrid drown in the Champions League quarter-finals with Hazard and Vinicius Jr and have a good laugh.
Wait, because as long as there is life, there is hope
“I’ll be clear: Kylian is going to stay in Paris, we’re never going to sell him and he’ll never leave free. These words of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi may date from June, they exist nonetheless, and reflect the ambition of a man. Keeping Mbappé this season means giving yourself a little more time to take Real Madrid out of his head and have him extended once and for all. InformationEl Confindencial which is worth its weight in peanuts if it is proven: enticed by the mouth of the new contract proposed by PSG, Wilfried Mbappé, father of, spoke to the son in favor of an extension. In his place, we would have done the same, because reading Leonardo on RMC Sport, the offer has the mouth: “we made two important offers to Kylian: one at the level of the top players of the workforce two months ago and one above these players very recently. “
🚨 MÁS DE LEONARDO 🚨
❌ “No venderemos a Mbappé por menos de lo que se lo compramos al Mónaco”.
👉 Fueron 180 MILLONES. #JUGONS
Via ‘RMC Sport’ pic.twitter.com/HdsRv8ONfM
– El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) August 25, 2021
Sell, because Paris promised Kyky
On the other hand, we have to face the facts. Bondy’s frog escalates the situation to achieve his ends and everyone in Paris is fed up, even his most loyal supporters. He has dreamed of Real Madrid since his teenage years and the Merengues have been following him for at least that long. For Florentino Pérez, things have turned into an obsession since he missed KM9 when the latter had just exploded in Monaco. From then on, he keeps repeating it, “Kylian will play for Real, one day or another,” and his members, devoting blind faith to him, flood the star’s networks with a white jersey.
Basically, the Mbappé scenario has been written for a long time. The daily sports Ace does not fail to recall this promise made by Al-Khelaifi in 2017: the day when Real will come to negotiate with him, PSG will not oppose it. That day has arrived, since the Spanish emblem has, according to RMC, asked to open discussions with its target at the same time as it has placed 160 million euros on the table. Nasser is faced with his promise, but he wouldn’t be the first to betray himself. Isn’t it his striker who, weeks before, had linked his future to the quality of the Paris transfer window?