BREAKING: Todd Boehly Led #Chelsea To Sign Kylian Mbappe From PSG—-Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has contacted Paris Saint-Germain personally as he looks to secure the sensational capture of Kylian Mbappe, sources.
The Blues were one of several Premier League clubs to make enquiries about Mbappe after the French superstar was left out of PSG’s pre-season tour of Asia and effectively put up for sale two weeks ago, but Boehly this weekend has again been in touch with PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi in an attempt to push a deal of sorts through.
Sources said Boehly has both enquired about bringing Mbappe in on loan and on a permanent deal, even with it assumed that the 24-year-old has a pre-contract agreement in place with Real Madrid to move to Spain next summer. The owner’s personal involvement has alerted PSG as to the real possibility of reaching an agreement.
Manchester United and Tottenham had initially been interested after it was revealed Mbappe could even be available for a season-long loan before the Madrid switch, i understands.
But Chelsea have stormed to the front of the queue, given their owner, who is still behaving like a “kid in a candy store” when it comes to transfers, according to one insider, has personally taken it upon himself to seal a sensational switch
With Financial Fair Play regulators already on Chelsea’s case, one thing the club do have is a phalanx of surplus players who can be offered the other way, especially in the striker department. United and Spurs, with their respective shallow squads, do not have such a luxury.
Liverpool were reportedly said to have joined the race last week, but club sources doubted the viability of such a move given the club’s more stringent approach to wage structure, one they would have to cast aside in order to foot the Mbappe bill.
Monday is the final day that Mbappe can notify PSG over whether he will be taking up the additional option of another year to 2025, but the club already know the answer.
They have moved to make the 24-year-old available for transfer in advance, given their insistence on not allowing their most valuable-ever asset to leave for nothing next summer.
They have been adamant they will do all they can to be rid of the “disruptive” influence now. One potential avenue, sources added, is to consider investigating the legality of Madrid’s pre-contract agreement with Mbappe – one PSG insist is in place already. It may not get anywhere, but anything to rock the boat.
PSG believe that Mbappe’s agent and manager, his mother Fayza, has negotiated a money-spinning contract with Madrid that includes a £160m signing on fee. She is also behind her son’s willingness, club sources said, to sit on the bench for a year in Paris in order to get his free transfer to Real.
That £160m is dependent on Mbappe seeing out his contract in France, thus taking home a handsome £1m-a-week in wages at PSG, topped up by generous bonuses – he pocketed a “contractual entitlement” pay increase at midnight on Monday – while sitting in the dugout.
PSG are unwilling to let Mbappe leave the club for free when his deal ends (Photo: Getty)
The club remain adamant he will not play for them until he agrees to stick to what they believed to be the plan – take up the additional year to 2025, giving them time to negotiate a cash sale with Madrid in the interim.
The complete breakdown in relationship between club and player is why they would be willing to even loan him out until his deal runs out.
Mbappe’s wages alone would break the bank for any Premier League club, but if one owner can find a way, searching for every little loophole in the system, it is Boehly. With the exit door firmly open at Stamford Bridge to make room for one yet another big-money arrival, a permanent deal cannot be ruled out yet.
