PSG’s Kylian Mbappe refuses to meet Al Hilal officials for talks on Saudi Pro League transfer

PSG is understood to have given the Saudi Pro League side permission to speak to Mbappe over personal terms after receiving the substantial bid on Monday.

The 24-year-old French striker has just one year left on his contract with the French champions and has been strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid.

A spokesperson from the Al Hilal delegation hoped to sell their project to Mbappe in Paris while finalising the signing of Brazil winger Malcom from Russia’s Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Mbappe’s uncertain PSG future

However, Mbappe and his team rejected any discussions with the Saudi club and never considered the move as an option, according to French sports news outlet L’Equipe.

Mbappe’s future with PSG has been uncertain since he informed the football club in June that he would not extend his contract until 2025, meaning that he could become a free agent next summer and potentially enter into pre-contract discussions with another club as early as January.

Although PSG has not yet confirmed the reports about the French striker’s rejection of the Al Hilal bid, they seem convinced that the player has already agreed on a free transfer to Real Madrid for the following summer.

The previous record for a football transfer was the $257 million PSG paid to Barcelona for Neymar in 2017.

Mbappe was left out of PSG’s pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea as the player and club are in a stand-off since the prolific striker declared he would not renew his contract at the end of the year.

It leaves PSG in the position of having to sell the player to another side or lose him for no fee in the summer of 2024.

PSG President Nasser al Khelaifi has decided to put Mbappe up for sale rather than risk losing him altogether without compensation.

Al Hilal is ready to pounce and have made the world record bid to bring the player, considered by many to be the best in the world and in his prime, to the rapidly changing Saudi Pro League.

The club is willing to offer a world-record salary and even structure a deal that could see Mbappe move to Real Madrid in a year’s time.

Al Hilal is one of four teams owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in the Kingdom’s top-flight league.

The club has already invested heavily in top playing talent from the European leagues, having already added Rúben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Kalidou Koulibaly to the playing squad.

Saudi Arabia has announced a football strategy in the Kingdom, which will see huge investment in overseas players as well as local talent and grass-roots junior development.