France captain Kylian Mbappe has informed officials at Paris Saint-Germain that he plans to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season, according to a source close to the Ligue 1 winners on Thursday.
The 25-year-old, who joined PSG from Monaco in 2017, had his contract extended in 2022 until 2024, but last summer declined to trigger a condition that would have allowed him to remain another year.
Mbappe has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid, and according to a source close to the situation, he has already begun talks with the Spanish club.
“The terms of the departure have yet to be fully agreed,” the source said, adding that the club and Mbappe will make an official statement “when everything is finalised in the next few months”.
PSG declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
Mbappe will leave PSG on a free transfer but the blow to the club will be softened by an agreement they reached last summer which will see the player waive bonuses amounting to around 60 to 70 million euros ($65.6 million to $76.6 million).
After seven seasons at PSG, Mbappe, the club’s all-time top scorer, looks set to seal a move to Real Madrid, the club that the player has dreamt of since he was a child.
Real have made no secret of their desire to bring him to the Santiago Bernabeu. In 2019, 2021 and 2022, club president Florentino Perez considered signing him, only to be rebuffed each time.
For PSG, the departure of their main star, a year after the exits of Neymar and Lionel Messi, marks the beginning of a new era of uncertainty.
