Mbappé's countdown

The elimination of France in the European Championship activates the Mbappé route. The player had parked his future so as not to distract from the concentration of Les Bleus for the tournament, but the farewell, more premature than expected, from his team rekindles the debate about his future. Although the transfer market has not yet been officially opened (it will officially do so this Thursday, July 1), An arduous career begins for Madrid to sign the PSG star, who will not make it easy at all.

Mbappé has been sending messages about his future for months in one way or another. The first, his reluctance to extend beyond June 2022 the contract that ties him to PSG. The player has put off the proposals for the renewal of the Parisian club, castled in retaining his star. On June 6, President Nasser Al Khleaifi said in an interview on L'Èquipe: “Mbappé will continue to Paris, we will never sell him and he will never go free.” Quite a declaration of intent while ensuring that the negotiations were on the right track. Its continuity in the Park of the Princes has become a matter of state, to such an extent that the president of the Republic himself, Emmanuel Macron, has come to speak. “It is important that he stays at PSG, both for the club and for the French league,” said the French head of state.

But the footballer has wanted to mark distances with his current club and spare no winks to Madrid. Mbappé has been especially affectionate with Benzema since the return of the Madrid forward to the French team was known. First in social networks and then during the concentration. In contrast, the messages he has addressed to PSG in recent weeks have been tepid, if not cold. “I want to be where I can really win, with a solid project around me,” he said before the last day of the French league, when collecting the award for the best player of the season, perhaps with the frustration of seeing how Lille got ready to snatch the league title from his team, as it ended up happening.

The negotiations have entered a three-way cold war scenario. PSG wants to retain the player at all costs and he, unlike Neymar (who already renewed until 2025), is lazy. Madrid, for its part, has pampered the relationship with the French club for when the time comes to move on. The moment is now. Although the club wanted the best for Mbappé at the European Championship (and that, by extension, it was also the best for Benzema and Varane), they believe that the elimination of Deschamps' men and how it has occurred can bring the player closer to the Bernabéu. Called to be the hero of Les Bleus, his missed penalty in the shootout against Switzerland has made him a villain and the opposing environment around his figure may push him to break the moorings in a destination far removed from the day-to-day French football.

The main obstacle to their arrival continues to be the economic section. Madrid cannot and does not want to face a disproportionate transfer that could compromise its accounts in an economic context that was very deteriorated due to the ravages of the pandemic. And if there is something that is not a problem in the Parc des Princes, it is money. Nor the risk of exposing himself to Mbappé leaving for free within a year worries a PSG that has been inflexible in similar situations. Rabiot suffered in his flesh how the club had him the entire second half of the 2018-19 season without playing due to the refusal to renew his contract.

In the meantime, Mbappé does not lose his calm or hope and clings to the experience. “The last time I took time was in 2017 to sign for PSG, because I signed just on August 31.” The countdown has begun.