La Liga irate as Mbappe snubs Madrid to remain at PSG

PARIS－Kylian Mbappe said he was "very happy" to stay at Paris Saint-Germain after the club announced that the World Cup winner was rejecting Real Madrid to remain in France until 2025.

"I am very happy to stay in France, in Paris, in my city," the 23-year-old Mbappe told supporters on the Parc des Princes pitch before he marked his new deal with a hat-trick in PSG's 5-0 win over Metz in its final Ligue 1 match of the season on Saturday.

Standing next to PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi, Mbappe said: "I hope I'm going to be able to continue to do what I like most－winning football matches and trophies with all of you."

Mbappe's hat-trick on Saturday took his total of league goals for the season to 28 as he finished as Ligue 1's leading scorer for a fourth straight campaign.

His decision ends months of speculation surrounding arguably the hottest property in world soccer.

Madrid pursued Mbappe for months and had reportedly agreed a deal which would have included a signing-on fee of 150 million euros ($158 million).

Mbappe had made no secret of his desire to one day play for Madrid, which will face Liverpool in the Champions League final in Paris this weekend after securing a 35th La Liga championship.

But PSG, which won the French title for a record-tying 10th time but angered its hardcore supporters with its Champions League last-16 defeat to Madrid, has battled to hold on to its biggest asset.

"I found out that he was staying just a few minutes before the announcement," admitted PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino, who is widely expected to leave the club this summer despite having a year to run on his contract.

'Insult'

The president of Spain's La Liga, Javier Tebas, complained bitterly on Saturday that the massive financial resources of PSG's Qatari owners had proved decisive in persuading Mbappe to stay in France.

"What PSG is doing by renewing Mbappe with large sums of money...after posting losses of 700 million euros in recent seasons and having a wage bill of over 600 million euros, is an INSULT to football," Tebas tweeted.

La Liga announced in a statement it was launching an official complaint about PSG's actions "to UEFA, the French administrative and fiscal authorities and the appropriate decision-making bodies of the European Union".

In his tweet, Tebas also called al-Khelaifi "a danger to European football".

Al-Khelaifi is the chairman of the influential European Club Association and sits on the UEFA Executive Committee.

Mbappe will now line up next season alongside Neymar and probably Lionel Messi－assuming he stays at the club－to help PSG in its protracted quest to land the Champions League, the title that has so far eluded it.

Madrid fans were bemused and angry after the widely anticipated move collapsed.

"Now I don't want him to come to Real Madrid anymore. It's not worth it," David Pulido, a 42-year-old Madrid supporter, told AFP.

"Mbappe played on both fronts. First, he wanted to come to Madrid, and now for the money he stays at PSG. I have no interest in Mbappe anymore, I'm sorry. He's a great player. I liked him at times, but not anymore."

Mbappe joined PSG on a seasonlong loan from Monaco in August 2017 that turned into a permanent deal worth 180 million euros.

He has helped the club win four Ligue 1 titles in five seasons, having also won a championship in the principality.

In the Champions League exit to Madrid this season, Mbappe scored in both legs of the tie, but could not prevent PSG from losing 3-2 on aggregate.

Last week, he was named France's player of the year for a third time in four seasons－the exception being in 2020 when no winner was crowned due to the pandemic.

He will be a key figure when France defends the World Cup in November and December.

The president of the Madrid supporters' associations, Luis Caceres, told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope: "Real Madrid has won 13 Champions Leagues without Mbappe. He will not be missed."

AFP