Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal have made a world-record £259 million bid for Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe.
Widespread media reports on Monday said a €300m (£259m) offer has been submitted by the Saudi Pro League side. The current world transfer record is the €222m (£200m) PSG paid to sign Neymar from Barcelona in August 2017.
Reports are claiming Mbappe will earn €700m over one year if he accepts the offer. Such a deal would likely see him become the highest-paid player in all of sports, while surpassing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the top of sporting rich lists.
Mbappe was left out of PSG’s pre-season squad after making it clear that he does intend to trigger the extension clause in his current contract, which runs until the summer of 2024.
The Ligue 1 champions are desperate to avoid a situation where Mbappe can leave the club on a free transfer, and have made available him this summer.
Contact has been made with a number of clubs across the globe, but it’s shock interest from Saudi Arabia that could rock the footballing world.
The free-spending of Saudi Pro League clubs has been a major talking point this summer, with the likes of Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Ruben Neves, Edouard Mendy, Marcelo Brozovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Kalidou Koulibaly joining Cristiano Ronaldo in the Middle East.
PSG are desperate to avoid losing Mbappe for nothing and have put him up for sale, wanting to recoup the costs of around £150m they spent to bring him in permanently from Monaco in 2018.
Real Madrid aren’t alone in being interested in a move for the superstar as top Premier League sides are also said to be in the mix.
But the France international is understood to be willing to spend the 2023/24 season on the sidelines and frozen out of the squad if that’s what it takes to get his move to Madrid.