Dylan Bettencourt
After months of back and forth, the Kylian Mbappé transfer saga finally came to an end when he signed a contract extension with Paris Saint-Germain.
The French striker is arguably one of the best football players in the world and for several months, it looked as if he was after a new challenge.
That challenge looked to be Real Madrid, who for months have looked confident that they will secure the 23-year-old’s signature.
While it seemed as if Mbappé had his mind made up, PSG continued to pull out all the stops to keep the striker.
The deal they offered him is unprecedented. He will be the highest paid player in the world – by a distance and has reportedly been handed a say in making the club’s decisions.
The historic contract will take football into new grounds and pushes the boundaries of player involvement.
As well as getting a reported R400-million annual salary, the World Cup winner was handed a gargantuan R2-billion signing bonus.
The numbers, being as ridiculous as they are, are not the most controversial part of the deal.
Mbappé has reportedly been handed a role in the club’s recruitment, deciding which players come and go, as well as having a say in the team’s future managers.
Mbappé is only 23 years old, but his value is one that PSG could not afford to lose and in order to keep him, they gave him a role that no other player has ever received in the history of the sport.
With Madrid missing out on Mbappé, the Spanish league, La Liga, announced that they are taking legal action against the French giants over the deal.
“What PSG’s doing by renewing Mbappé with a large sum after giving losses of €700-million in recent seasons and having more than €600-million salary bill is an insult to football,” La Liga president Javier Medrano said in a statement.
Mbappé’s deal was announced at the club’s final game of the season against Metz, where the Frenchman capped off the deal by scoring a hat-trick and being named the Ligue 1 player of the season for the third consecutive season.
Image source: @Reuters
