There is no more central question in French football and let's dare it in football itself.
This is THE subject that shakes the world of round ball, before knowing who will win the Euro or the Ballon d'Or France Football this year: will Kylian Mbappé leave PSG and join another big club? 'Europe?
There is a certainty to this day and it will excite Paris lovers or despair them, it is according to: no decision has yet been taken by the world champion.
But the same trend continues to emerge, that of a departure this summer, one year from the end of his contract.
It's an open secret: he has already wanted to leave PSG in the past, especially in 2019, when he declared his need "to have responsibilities".
But the verdict depends on a complex set of data.
Europe at his feet
To leave, you have to meet three conditions.
Desire it, have a point of fall capable of such a financial operation (transfer and salary) and that the PSG finds itself there economically when it wishes to extend it.
The most obvious relates to the second condition.
Europe still craves Mbappé.
From Liverpool to Manchester City, via Barcelona or Real Madrid, the oligarchy of the Old Continent continues to patiently seduce, underground, the 22-year-old striker, erected in the present and future of the football planet.
All these great stables are ready to break the bank to afford the French gem.
Either because they have the funds, or by borrowing and relying on the financial benefits that the Parisian generates: sale of jerseys, increase in marketing rights, possibility of becoming a Golden Ball, increase in audiovisual rights.
Kylian Mbappé's decision - to stay or leave PSG - is currently blocking the European market.
His choice will weigh everywhere.
If he signs for Real Madrid, Erling Haaland and his agent Mino Raiola will have to look elsewhere, probably towards Barcelona.
Mbappé remains the priority of all the powerful.
A sporting decision
Kylian Mbappé knows it: wherever he goes and this destination can lead him ... to PSG, he will earn a very good living.
Much more than the almost 2 million euros gross monthly he currently receives.
Money is therefore no longer at the heart of his intimate project.
Its arbitration is now based only on sporting criteria.
Which team seems the best equipped to dominate Europe and obviously lift the Champions League, one of its dreams?
He combs through all the staff, aware that with him, any eleven changes face and size.
It is in this context and with this backdrop that he observes the future transfer window of PSG with a magnifying glass.
Happy in Paris, he constantly wonders if the club has the means for its ambitions.
In other words, is it in France and with this club that he will be able to win the C1?
He thus declared to "Téléfoot"
on TF1 last September after the lost final of the Champions League against Bayern Munich (1-0): “We must be positive, make a good recruitment.
You have to buy players of course.
We'll see how it goes.
I hope we will have good recruits.
“For many months, he has been prioritizing his future at PSG.
But not at the cost of a weaker team, the feeling that the capital club can sometimes give in certain areas of the game.
A particularly thorough reflection
Antero Henrique or Luis Ferrer, former recruitment managers at PSG and active during his transfer from Monaco to Paris in 2017, often confided to their interlocutors: we do not force Mbappé to decide under pressure.
This strategy is counterproductive.
The player likes to lead long reflections, weighing all the aspects of a career, the strengths and weaknesses of each championship that could host him, the team where he could sign, the geopolitics of the locker room in question, the leaders in place and their communication as well as their political weight, locally or in Europe.
Everything is analyzed and this analysis takes time.
Another factor could come into play: a form of weariness in the face of criticism of which he considers himself a victim, without knowing what amounts to real annoyance or a simple threat or even wounded pride. .
"Of course that tiresome, especially when you play in a club in your country, that you give everything for your national team, whispered Mbappé Wednesday evening at the microphone of RTL after Bosnia - France (0-1).
It's different for players who play abroad.
They only come back here for the national team.
I am there all the time.
Of course it speaks a lot more.
It's a different context but I knew it when I signed in Paris.
"Gladly sulky, Mbappé judges that the man, more than the player, is under attack.
Relaunched by the radio, he will drive home the point: “Of course it plays but it's not just that.
The most important thing is to feel good where you are and to have fun.
“For now, he finds his pleasure at PSG.