Operation Mbappé is unleashed

Operation Mbappé is in the final stretch. This is what emerges from the recent statements by PSG sports director Leonardo. The leader said that they were intensifying efforts to renew part of their group of stars such as Neymar, Di María or Mbappé himself. “We have started several negotiations for the renewals of certain players. We have to adapt to the current economic reality, but all the renovations that we think about, by Di María, Neymar, Mbappé, even Bernat or Draxler, we have begun to discuss them and we are going to intensify the negotiations in the coming days, “said Leonardo in Facebook. These are, therefore, key days for Real Madrid, who will know for sure if the work they have been doing these months with the 20-year-old star has paid off or not.

Real Madrid has been patient with this operation. AS has been counting it. The strategy was reduced to trying to get Mbappé to resist PSG's renewal rush. And, so far, it has. Up to three times, as this newspaper has learned, Mbappé has said “no” to renew his contract with the Parisian entity. And these days, according to Leonardo himself, PSG is going to do the rest to retain its star, which ends contract in 2022. Therefore, if he arrives next summer without having extended his contractual relationship, Mbappé will be able to leave at a reasonable price (Madrid estimates that around 180 million). If not, he would go free the next.

Just one doubt.

Mbappé has only doubted his firm intention not to renew and wait for Madrid when the football stoppage due to the pandemic occurred. At that moment, his environment began to think that it might not be a good idea to rush the contract so much. If a major injury occurs it would be a financial drama for the player. And, even in that situation, what slid the player's environment to PSG, According to sources close to that negotiation, it was only that he would only be willing to renew if the new contract included a clause that would let him leave if an offer for a certain amount of money arrived. It would have been a problem for Madrid, since this amount would have been, surely, higher than the 180 million in which the white entity aspires to buy it in 2021. Without a doubt, closer to the 222 in which the departure of Neymar from Barça was set.

This solution, which Mbappé renews with that signed proMadrid clause, is still on the table today. Keep in mind that although it is not the best solution for Madrid, it is for PSG (that would make sure to retain the footballer or collect a good transfer for him) and for Mbappé himself (which would secure his future and forget the danger of serious injury or any other abnormal circumstance). One way or another, Operation Mbappé reaches its final stretch.