‘Cornerstone’ of the future PSG, superstar striker Kylian Mbappé explained on Monday that he had extended until 2025 for the Parisian ‘sports’ project.
He promised not to encroach on the choices of his management, who see him as ‘the best player in the world’.
To rebuild, PSG found its keystone but wanted to clarify things in the crowded amphitheater of the Parc des Princes, where hundreds of journalists from all over the world had taken place for the epilogue of this long mercato soap opera, concluded on Saturday.
“This choice is a very strong sign, we are keeping the best player in the world”, savored the Parisian president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi at the start of this highly anticipated press conference, two days following the announcement of the player’s extension. ‘Today is a great day for PSG, for our supporters in France and around the world: Kylian is staying at PSG for the next three seasons, it’s important for us and for Ligue 1.’
All smiles, accompanied by his family and those around him (his father Wilfried Mbappé, his mother Fayza Lamari, his brother Ethan, his lawyer Delphine Verheyden), Mbappé was able to savor the end of this period of uncertainty. “A difficult decision”, he admitted, while ensuring that he “always wanted to take refuge in my football”.
Communion
After this press conference, Mbappé was able to go to the forecourt of the Parc des Princes to commune with ultra supporters and greet his audience, before being the guest of the 8:00 p.m. television news on TF1 in the evening.
Yes, the Bondynois chose to stay in Paris, his favorite club, rather than going to Real Madrid, which had been courting him for months. But this choice was made for purely sporting reasons, to ‘lead France to the top’, and not, for example, for financial reasons.
“We talked regarding months of sport, hours (of image rights) and minutes of money, it lasted five minutes”, summed up Mbappé, dressed in a dark suit and a matching tie, alternating the smiles and the answers in French or in English.
‘I will not go beyond my duty’
He also said he wanted to ‘thank’ the Madrid supporters. ‘They have always accepted me as one of their own, you have to be grateful, I hope they will understand that I have chosen to stay in my country. I am French and as a Frenchman I want to continue a little, lead France to the heights and pull this championship and this club, ”he explained.
Because if Mbappé chose to reject the advances of Real Madrid, at the risk of alienating a good part of Spain, it is certainly because he made sure that in Paris, he would be ‘the cornerstone of the project’, a formula already accepted by Al-Khelaïfi.
The 2018 world champion (23) said he wanted sports guarantees to extend, which he obviously obtained, with the first guarantee of the dismissal of sports director Leonardo on the night of Saturday to Sunday, shortly following the formalization of the extension of ‘Kyky’.
On the other hand, there is no question for Mbappé to have control over the sportsman or to claim anything, not even the captain’s armband, currently owned by the Brazilian Marquinhos.
“I remain a football player, anchored in a collective, I will not go beyond this function, I will not go beyond my function as a player,” said Mbappé.
‘Kylian wants to win’
And its president Nasser confirmed the statement: ‘What he wants Kylian is to win’, he pleaded.
“He’s an important player, the best player in the world, but we, as a club, decide what we want to do,” he said. ‘The sports project is important for all players. Kylian never asked for anything, he wants to win like us and that’s a good thing.’
Never has a speech aroused so much curiosity since the spectacular arrival of Lionel Messi, presented with fanfare in Paris in the heart of the summer of 2021. Except that at the time, PSG had a sports director well in place and a coach already projected on the next sporting events.
/ATS
