French football expert Jonathan Johnson has spoken exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest Daily Briefing column about Kylian Mbappe’s potential transfer to Real Madrid and how a Champions League final with Paris Saint-Germain could impact that.
Mbappe is heading towards the end of his contract at PSG this summer, and it’s been widely felt for some time now that the France international would leave the Parc des Princes on a free transfer, with the Bernabeu fully expected to be his next destination.
Still, Mbappe is currently playing his part in an exciting Champions League run with PSG, helping them past Barcelona into the semi-finals of this year’s competition, where they’ll be the big favourites to beat Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals and make it into the final again after the disappointment of losing to Bayern Munich four years ago.
It could be that PSG will meet Bayern again, or they’ll be up against Real Madrid when the whole footballing world knows that they’re likely to be Mbappe’s next club.
Speaking to CaughtOffside about Mbappe’s future, Johnson made it clear he still expected the 25-year-old to join Los Blancos, regardless of any theoretical Champions League final result, though it could perhaps delay an announcement, depending on how the game goes.
Mbappe transfer latest from French football expert
“In terms of the final and a possible show-down with Real Madrid, it’s impossible not to consider this outcome, but, equally, there’s the possibility of a re-match of PSG and Bayern after their final meeting in 2020 – the only final PSG have ever made it to,” Johnson said.
“Still, as long as PSG and Real Madrid are both in the Champions League, there won’t be any clarity over Mbappe’s future. I don’t think there’ll be an official announcement from either club regarding his future, and in many ways, because of the potential optics of the two teams playing each other in the final, I think that could delay things even further. Then we’d be looking at probably closer to the end of Mbappe’s contract at the end of June, which then probably brings onto the horizon the possibility of Mbappe going to the Euros still with no announcement as to where his future lies.
“Some people have asked me, would PSG beating Real in the final convince Mbappe to change his mind? I don’t think it would, I think it’s advanced to the point now that the expectation is that he will go to Madrid, it’s just about how it plays out.
“Obviously it would probably be less complicated and there would be less drama if it wasn’t PSG vs Real Madrid in the final, but, if it is, then I think there will be a focus, certainly on PSG’s side, that is more than just Mbappe against Real Madrid and what happens next; it’s a team effort and everything to get PSG there will have been collective, so I think they’ll try to down-play the Mbappe focus as much as possible.”
