Should Kylian Mbappé Move To Saudi Arabia?
Every week, it seems like Saudi Arabia is making moves in the soccer world. Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Al-Nassr in January, the Saudi Pro League has been aggressively recruiting elite players to make the move the Saudi Arabia. Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kanté and Roberto Firmino highlight the players who have joined Ronaldo in the Saudi League so far this summer.
However, Al-Hilal’s attempt to recruit Kylian Mbappé is like nothing we have seen from the Saudi League yet. Al-Hilal has offered PSG a world-record fee of $322 million to try and sign Mbappé and is offering the French superstar a whopping $776 million a year, a contract that would make him the highest-paid soccer player in the world.
To put things into perspective, LeBron James will have made $531 million in total during his NBA career by the end of his current contract, per Spotrac. Mbappé would make more in one season than LeBron has made in his entire professional basketball career.
So, with Mbappé’s ongoing feud with PSG and questions constantly circulating about his future, the question is, should he move to Saudi Arabia?
Mbappe’s future with PSG looks dead at this point. He has called the club “divisive” and declined to renew his contract with PSG. However, he has also refused to leave the club this summer, claiming he wants to stay until his contract expires next summer. This would allow him to leave on a free transfer and would deny PSG from recouping any of their $194 million investment into Mbappé.
He and PSG are at a standstill, and if the club’s hierarchy refuses to step down and Mbappé refuses to leave, then he will ride the bench next year. This would be crazy. Mbappé is arguably the best player in the world right now, so not seeing him play would be a travesty.
He needs to get out of PSG this summer. Otherwise, Mbappé will have to get used to his new position in PSG’s stands rather than on the field.
This move to Saudi Arabia would offer him a way out while also giving PSG a transfer fee for Mbappé that the club could not possibly refuse. Plus, $776 million a year is nothing to scoff at. Financially, this makes sense for both parties.
But let’s be real. Mbappé does not want to move to Al-Hilal. He wants to stay in Europe. For him, this is apparently about more than money, and that makes sense.
While we can agree that he is elite, he has yet to win a Champions League and has yet to prove himself outside of France. He has also not won a Ballon d’Or or a FIFA’s “The Best” award. Winning these are definitely on Mbappe’s mind, all of which he could not do if he were to move to Saudi Arabia.
Real Madrid looks like the more likely destination. They have been long-time admirers of the 24-year-old, making previous attempts to sign him. Mbappé also wants to move to Real Madrid.
This seems like a perfect match. However, Real Madrid has already had a busy transfer window so far and might wait to try and sign Mbappé next summer. After all, if you could sign a player on a free transfer next year rather than dishing out hundreds of millions to sign him the next year, wouldn’t you just wait? Especially when you already have an incredibly good team?
While another team could battle Real Madrid for his signature next summer too, Mbappé wants to move to Madrid. They have the inside track and might be able to afford to wait until next summer to make a move for him.
If Madrid refuses to offer this summer, would Mbappé rather sit on the bench in Paris, or go and play in a rising league while earning a lot of money? Although most people think he would rather stick it out at PSG instead of moving to Saudi Arabia, plenty of players have already shocked the soccer world by moving to the Saudi League.
I know I personally would rather play than sit on the bench, especially if I was as good as Mbappé. If he wanted, he could go to Al-Hilal for one year, make his money, get his playing time and then move to Madrid on a free transfer next year. This could be a reasonable option if nothing else is figured out.
There is still a high chance that Real Madrid or another top club could snap up Mbappé this summer. There is also a chance, albeit slim, that he patches things up with PSG. However, if there is no better option, I would not blame Mbappé for moving to Saudi Arabia instead of riding the bench in Paris.
It is going to be interesting to see what happens. While it is likely that he will stay in Europe, it would be hard to blame him for moving to Saudi Arabia if he is left with no other option.
Be sure to keep an eye on this situation. The Kylian Mbappé transfer drama is really starting to get juicy now.
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