The ambitious plans of the Saudis to complete a 300 million euro ($333 million) takeover may have suffered a deadly heartbreak by Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe’s refusal to meet with representatives from Al Hilal.
According to the sports daily L’Equipe, the French star has rejected “any discussion with the Al-Hilal club representatives, present in Paris this Wednesday.”
The report states that a delegation from the Saudi club travelled to Paris to complete the acquisition of Brazilian Malcom from Zenit Saint Petersburg.
While in the French capital, they also wanted to show Mbappe their proposal.
Because the 24-year-old player’s entourage “refused any discussions with the representatives of the Saudi club,” L’Equipe continued, “this approach will not succeed.”
The report further stated that, “The captain of Les Bleus has never considered this option.”
Mbappe had never indicated interest in joining the rapidly expanding Saudi league, but PSG had given Al Hilal permission to start conversations with him.
PSG wants Mbappe to depart now rather than for nothing in the summer of 2019 because he has one year left on his contract with them.
However, he won’t sign a new one, and the French champions think he’s already agreed to join Real Madrid in 2019 because of his refusal to sign.
The general consensus is that Real wanted to get Mbappe for nothing when he became available next season, so they offered him a huge signing bonus to entice him away from PSG so they wouldn’t have to pay them anything.
Last weekend, the French club removed Mbappe from their lineup for a tour of Japan and South Korea, raising the stakes between the two parties to a new level.
If Mbappe is unable to reach an agreement with PSG, it has been suggested that he may not be chosen for a whole season.
With 212 goals in 260 games, Mbappe is the club’s all-time leading scorer and is still the second-most expensive player in club history, trailing only Neymar of PSG.
