“It’s time for Mbappé to leave PSG”

The Kylian Mbappé soap opera has been the main topic of conversation in the French media for several weeks now. The PSG forward’s desire not to renew his contract has the club’s former sporting director Leonardo talking. The Brazilian has spoken in an interview with L’Équipe, where he discussed the future of the France captain.

Time for Mbappé to leave PSG

“For the good of PSG, I think the time has come for Mbappé to leave, whatever happens,” said Leonardo. He then went on to argue that the player has yet to win the Champions League in six years in the French capital. “Paris Saint-Germain existed before Kylian Mbappé and will exist after him. He has been in Paris for six years and, in those six seasons, five different clubs have won the Champions League (Real Madrid in 2018 and 2022, Liverpool in 2019, Bayern Munich in 2020, Chelsea in 2021 and Manchester City in 2023), none of who had Mbappé in their ranks. That means it’s totally possible to win the competition without him,” he added.

Sacked by PSG

Leonardo added that he “holds no grudge” against Mbappé despite it being one of the reasons PSG sacked him just after winning Ligue 1 in May 2022. “Because of his behaviour over the last two years, Mbappé has shown that he is not yet a player capable of really leading a team. He’s a great player, not a leader. He’s a great goalscorer, not a playmaker. It’s difficult to build a team around him,” he concluded.

In 2021, the summer Mbappé wanted to join Real Madrid, as he made clear in an interview with RMC Sport just after the transfer window closed, Leonardo wanted to sell the forward. However, Qatar, who have the final say in the French club’s decisions, steadfastly refused to listen to offers from Madrid. Such was the rift between the sporting director and Mbappé that club president Nasser Al Khelaïfi had to take over the negotiations for the player’s contract renewal, eventually achieving his objective in May 2022 when Mbappé signed a two-year deal.