Playing for PSG Doesn’t Help Much Because it’s a Divisive Team: Kylian Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe has described his club Paris St Germain as a “divisive team”, amid a contract standoff between the player and the French Ligue 1 champions.

Relations between PSG and Mbappe soured last month after the French forward said he would not renew his contract which expires at the end of next season, meaning he can leave for free in June 2024.

If he runs down his contract PSG would be unable to recoup any of the 180 million euros ($197 million) they spent to sign him. PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi has said they will not let him go for free.

Mbappe, Ligue 1’s top scorer in the last five seasons, has been linked with a move to Real Madrid.

“I think that playing for PSG doesn’t help much because it’s a divisive team, a divisive club,” he said in an interview with France Football magazine. He did not elaborate.

PSG representatives did not immediately reply when contacted by Reuters for comment on Saturday.

PSG have won nine of the last 11 Ligue 1 titles but Mbappe’s frustration lies with their performances in the Champions League — a trophy the Parisian club have never won despite all their investment in the squad.

PSG went out in the last 16 this year when they were beaten by Bayern Munich, failing to score in both legs. Mbappe was injured for the first leg and said they were “helpless” in the second.

Mbappe said he was the “most decisive player” in the group stage but could not explain what PSG were missing with the club hitting a “glass ceiling” in Europe.

“We did what we could, period. You have to talk to the people who make the team, who organise the squad, who build this club,” he added.

PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi recently insisted the club cannot let Mbappe leave as a free agent next year and get no transfer fee in return.

“We can’t let one of the best players in the world go for free,” al-Khelaïfi said at a news conference last week.

Running down his contract to leave PSG in one year’s time would mean the French champion losing out on a transfer fee likely to exceed the world record 222 million euros it paid Barcelona for Neymar six years ago. As a free agent, Mbappe could command a colossal signing-on fee if Madrid did not have to pay PSG for the transfer.

(With inputs from Agencies)