Paris Saint-Germain have received a world record bid of 300-million-euro ($332 million) for Kylian Mbappe from Saudi club Al-Hilal.
Real Madrid – the club widely thought to be leading the chase for the most potent forward in world football – are among a number of other clubs to have expressed an interest.
Al-Hilal has made a formal offer by letter but such a transfer could only be made with the agreement of Mbappe who has never expressed an interest in moving to the fast-growing Saudi league.
“The club has given permission to Al Hilal to speak with Mbappe. That’s the request of the letter and that’s been granted,” the PSG source said.
Riyadh-based Al-Hilal are one of the handful of clubs owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). They have already signed central defender Kalidou Koulibaly from Chelsea and Ruben Neves from Wolves this summer.
Mbappe, 24, has one year left on his contract with PSG, who want him to leave now rather than for nothing next summer. There have been suggestions that Mbappe would not be selected for an entire year if he fails to find a solution with PSG.
Mbappe is refusing to sign a new contract and the French champions believe he has already struck a deal to move to Real Madrid next year for nothing. Manchester United, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Tottenham and Real Madrid have also expressed interest.
The approach from Real appears to represent a change in tactics by the 13-time European champions, who tried to sign Mbappe last year before he agreed to stay with PSG alongside Neymar and the now-departed Lionel Messi.
It is widely thought that Real hoped to pick up Mbappe for free next year, attracting him with a colossal signing fee because they would not have to pay PSG anything for his services.
The standoff between Mbappe and the French club reached a new peak at the weekend when they dropped him from their squad to tour Japan and South Korea.
Mbappe, the club’s all-time top scorer with 212 goals in 260 appearances, remains the second most expensive player in history behind his PSG teammate Neymar. He was still a teenager when he joined PSG on a season-long loan from Monaco in August 2017.
