May 10, 2024, 3:54 PM
May 10, 2024, 3:54 PM
The attacker Kylian Mbappé made his departure from Paris Saint-Germain official this Friday at the end of the current season, after seven years at the club in the French capital, as has been taken for granted in the press for months.
“It is my last year at Paris Saint-Germain. I am not going to renew and I am going to end this adventure in a few weeks. I am going to play the last game at the Parc des Princes on Sunday [contra el Toulouse, en la 33ª jornada de la Ligue 1]”, announced the 25-year-old forward in a video published on his social networks.
The message is not exactly a surprise. In February, a source close to the matter already indicated to AFP that the player had informed the club’s leaders that he was not going to renew the contract and that he would leave in June.
All that was missing was official confirmation and hearing it from the lips of Mbappé himself, who decided to publish that video three days after the great disappointment of PSG’s elimination in the Champions League semifinals against Borussia Dortmund.
That European setback ended Mbappé’s dream of being crowned European champion with PSG, a goal that he has not been able to achieve and that is surely his biggest thorn in his side. In 2020 he was close, then being runner-up.
– The French Cup, last mission –
PSG is already mathematically champion of the current Ligue 1 and its only incentive until the end of the season is to try to win the national double. To do this, they will play the French Cup final on May 25, against Lyon in Lille.
Mbappé arrived at PSG at the close of the market at the start of the 2017-2018 season, from Monaco. Since then he has achieved an impressive record with the Parisian club, with six Ligue 1 titles (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024), which added to the one he achieved with Monaco in 2017. He also won the Cup three times of France with PSG (2018, 2020, 2021).
It has been in these years with PSG that Mbappé has gone from young promise to top international superstar, especially thanks to the world title with France in 2018.
His last season at PSG has been marked by the continuous feeling of being faced with a farewell.
He began the course by being separated from the group for a time, in mid-2023, due to his refusal to activate an option in his contract that allowed him to continue for another year, until June 2025.
He was later reinstated to the group and played with it for the season.
– Heading to Real Madrid? –
Although Mbappé did not reveal at any time, nor in his video message this Friday, his future destiny, the Spanish press has been publishing for months that the French player closed an agreement to join Real Madrid from July 1.
Before that, Mbappé would join the France camp to compete in the Euro Cup (June 14-July 14), where his team opens on June 17 in Düsseldorf against Austria.
Mbappé’s statistics, at 25 years old, are spectacular.
He is the top scorer in PSG history (287 games, waiting for his remaining four games with the club). This 2023-2024 season he has scored 43 goals so far, taking into account all competitions.
For PSG, the European elimination against Dortmund and the confirmation of Mbappé’s departure marks the end of an era and possibly the beginning of a new stage, in which coach Luis Enrique must promote a new project, which according to PSG officials club would be more aimed at putting emphasis on the collective and not so much on individualities.
Before Mbappé, two superstars of the brilliance of the Argentine Lionel Messi and the Brazilian Neymar left PSG at the end of last season.
