French football expert Jonathan Johnson has weighed in on the Kylian Mbappe transfer situation in his latest exclusive column for CaughtOffside.
The France international is in the final year of his Paris Saint-Germain contract, and has long been linked with Real Madrid after a deal also fell through for him in the past.
Johnson has now predicted that Real will be back in for Mbappe, but doesn’t expect a deal to happen until summer 2024, whether Mbappe is a free agent by then or not.
While it seems PSG chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi is insisting he won’t lose his star player on a free, Johnson isn’t too convinced that the club can avoid that happening.
Writing in his weekly CaughtOffside column on Substack today, Johnson suggested a 2024 exit has always been Mbappe’s preference, while there are also doubts as to whether Madrid can really afford a signing like this after already completing a deal for Jude Bellingham earlier this summer.
“To be honest, I’m not too surprised by the tone Al-Khelaifi took, because it pretty much sums up the weak position PSG have put themselves in,” Johnson said.
“While I can understand PSG not wanting to lose Mbappe on a free transfer – no one would want to lose a player of his quality for nothing – but, equally, it reflects how desperate PSG were to tie Mbappe down and keep him out of Real Madrid’s clutches just over 12 months ago.
“I still stand by what I’ve said before – I see Mbappe seeing out this season at PSG and leaving after the Olympics in 2024, that’s always seemed the logical finishing point for his story in France. It’s now just a question of which side caves in first.”
He added: “I think if he was going to move to Real Madrid this summer then I’m not sure they’d have already spent as much as they have on someone like Jude Bellingham. I still see Mbappe playing out the next season with PSG and then Real coming back to the table for him in summer 2024, whether he’s a free agent by then or not.”
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