At PSG, this season, there is always a before and an after Montpellier.
On December 5 at La Mosson (3-1 victory for PSG), Leonardo announced that discussions for an extension of Kylian Mbappé were on the right track.
" We are talking.
We want to discuss, and he also wants to discuss.
It is going well.
We have taken steps forward compared to 10, 15 days ago and we will continue, ”explained the Parisian sports director.
His striker somehow answered him this Friday after the new success (4-0) against the Héraultais, this time at the Parc des Princes.
What should we remember from Kylian Mbappé's point about his near future and the end of his contract in June 2022?
First of all, Bondy's crack has developed a new approach in the way he sees things.
So far, the world champion favored the option of a very short extension in his discussions with the club.
One way for the Parisian striker to keep a way out if he chose to re-stack with PSG.
This time, number 7 mentioned the possibility of making a long-term commitment in the event of an extension.
“If I sign, it is to invest myself in the long term in PSG.
I don't want to sign a contract and say a year later:
I want to leave
.
If I sign, it's to stay ”.
An extension of at least three years
It is difficult to know what “this long term” implies - the details of the discussions have not been filtered out - but we must consider an extension of at least three additional years, or even more.
A new engagement would therefore carry Mbappé's contract with PSG at least until 2025. And a newfound freedom to engage with the club of his choice in January 2025 (at best the previous summer) when the world champion will have 26 years.
Unless the Parisian striker simply wanted to dress his speech in the attire of a supposed desire for extension.
Because the rest of his words do not sweat a fierce desire to continue long in Paris.
It even sometimes took on the appearance of an epitaph when he thanked the club and its supporters.
"PSG gave me incredible opportunities and I will be grateful for life," he said at the microphone of Canal + before continuing on Téléfoot: "I am very happy here.
The supporters and the club have always helped me.
For that alone, I will always be grateful.
"
His sense of honesty honors him.
But with Mbappé, we are talking about a player who already had desires elsewhere in 2019 when he spoke at the UNFP trophies.
“This is a very important moment for me, I am coming to a first or second turning point in my career, he said when he was crowned best player in the championship.
I have discovered a lot of things here, I feel that maybe now is the time to have more responsibilities.
I hope it will maybe be at Paris Saint-Germain, it would be with great pleasure, or maybe somewhere else for a new project.
"
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He had finally backed down, aware that a departure - like what Neymar experienced the same summer with his true-false transfer to Barça - would have been very complicated to implement.
This time, the top scorer in the championship is in a strong position and he suggests that PSG is one of the options but is clearly not the only one.
"I want to think about what I want to do in the next few years, where I want to be", he proclaims in a very clear allusion to the other contenders.
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“We don't have to beg them.
Those who really want to stay will remain, supported Leonardo the sporting director in a recent interview with France Football.
I hope they
(Editor's note: Neymar and Mbappé)
are convinced that PSG is currently a good place for a very high level and ambitious football player.
"
League 1, a limiting character to its evolution?
Apparently Mbappé is just as convinced as Liverpool, Real Madrid or Manchester City present guarantees of success and fulfillment.
Not to mention that the striker and his family have always considered that Ligue 1 could present, in the long term, a limiting nature to its development.
And it is not the drop in TV rights that will improve this situation.
Kylian Mbappé will have to study all of these parameters to determine himself during the coming weeks.
"I'm not trying to save time ... But that brings reflection," he concluded Friday evening.
He still has a little time.
But he will have to define his position before this summer.
Because in case of departure, PSG should find him a replacement.
And the shadow of a certain Messi would hover a little more over Paris.