French and Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe has revealed that he asked to leave the club this summer.
Mbappe has entered the final 12 months of his contract at the Parc des Princes and is reluctant to extend in the hope of sealing a dream move to Real Madrid, who have been waiting for this moment for years.
The Spanish side failed with a handful of bids late in the transfer window, the last of which was worth around $208.5m (£154m), with PSG adamant that they will be able to convince Mbappe to sign an extension this season.
“I asked to leave because, from the moment I did not want to extend, I wanted the club to have a transfer fee to have a quality replacement,” he confessed to RMC Sport.
“It is a club which brought me a lot. I have always been happy the four years that I spent here, and I still am. I announced it early enough that the club can turn [things] around. I wanted everyone to go out to grow up, to go out hand in hand, to make a good deal, and I respected that.
“I said, if you don’t don’t want me to leave, I will stay.”
Mbappe also stressed that he did not leave his request late in the window to try and force PSG‘s hand, instead of voicing his desire to leave early in the hope that an amicable solution could be reached.
“People said I turned down six or seven extension offers, that I don’t want to talk to Leonardo anymore, that’s absolutely not true,” he added. “It is not for me to judge [why PSG did not sell], but my position was clear.
“I said that I wanted to leave and I said it quite early. Me, personally, I did not appreciate too much the suggestions that I waited until the last week of August because that’s a lie. I said at the end of July that I wanted to leave.”
Real are plotting to sign Mbappe on a free transfer next summer, but PSG still harbour hope of convincing the Frenchman to sign a new contract to remain alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar at the Parc des Princes.
Source: 90min
