French soccer icon Kylian Mbappé could be headlining to Saudi Arabiaafter a club from the oil-rich kingdom made an unprecedented offer for the Les Bleus captain.
Paris Saint-Germaine received a transfer offer of 300 million euros for Mbappé, which is about 332 million dollars, from the kingdom’s Al-Hilal team. The Associated Press and sky sports both reported Monday.
A transfer would open the door for Al-Hilal to open talks for an even more lucrative deal, even if it’s just for one year.
Mbappé, up World Cup 2022 goalscorerHe is under contract with PSG for the upcoming 2023-24 season and the 24-year-old is reportedly looking to join Spanish world powerhouse Real Madrid starting in the 2024-25 campaign.
PSG don’t want to lose Mbappé for anything in a year, so the club left him in france like his companions do a pre-season tour of Japan hoping to reach a transfer deal.
The transfer of $332 would exceed 262 million dollars from PSG paid for Brazilian star Neymar, who was sent to Paris from Barcelona in the summer of 2017.
If Mbappé were to end up playing in Saudi Arabia, it would be another major acquisition for the kingdom, which is looking to increase its soft power on the world stage through sport.
Last month, the PGA Tour announced it would merge with rival LIV Golf, a Saudi-backed men’s golf organization that was formed last year.
Cristiano Ronaldo recently completed his first station with Al Nassr FC in Saudi Arabia.
Critics of Saudi Arabia claim the kingdom is spending large amounts of dollars as part of a «sports laundering» effort to buy global credibility in light of human rights abuses and the murder of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Marlene Lenthang contributed.
