PSG
PSG already have options for a Plan B if Kylian Mbappé leaves the club
The French club are already thinking about a Plan B if their French superstar leaves in the summer.
In Paris there is a plan: the Mbappé plan. It will exist until the endless soap opera of Mbappé's future is finally finished. But those ending lines in the book have not been written yet, even if all those involved continue to work on it. It is a situation of instability and uncertainty that forces PSG to look for alternatives.
Signings to replace (or not) the player from Bondy already happened in the summer: Gonçalo Ramos (22-years-old, on loan with purchase already agreed for €65 million), Marco Asensio (28-years-old, free), Kang-in Lee (22, €22m), Hugo Ekitiké (21, €28.5m), Bradley Barcola (21, €45m), Ousmane Dembélé (26, €50m) and Randal Kolo Muani (25, €95m). Neymar and Messi both left and, in return, Paris invested €305.5 million in seven attackers. All of them except Asensio and Dembélé are under 25-years-old and eager to take a step forward in their career. All of them signed just in case Mbappé leaves.
PSG interested in Rafael Leão
In football, especially when it comes to transfers, it is much better to put the bandage on before the bleeding. This avoids haemorrhages like the one that the departure of their all-time leading scorer would incite. Mbappé is the architect, more or less directly, of 34 (28 scored and six assisted) of the 70 goals scored by Luis Enrique’s side this season. Saying goodbye to 48.6% of a team’s arsenal is no laughing matter.
For all these reasons, as all the signings have not been expensive (Ekitiké aims to leave on loan and Gonçalo Ramos is not convincing PSG) and because, of course, seeing Mbappé leave would require another titanic player, PSG’s money managers are already looking at the horizon in the summer of 2024. French media outlet Téléfoot has already reported interest in Rafael Leão.
Osimhen and Rashford also linked to PSG
A ferocious winger as the numbers show, the Milan star is valued at €175 million. However, it was Aurelio de Laurentiis himself, president of Napoli, who put his forward, Victor Osimhen, under PSG’s nose: “Our negotiations to renew [with the player] was long because it was between friends, we knew perfectly well that at the end of this year he would have left for Real Madrid, PSG or an English team.” The Nigerian striker’s contract expires in 2026, but his release is estimated at €130 million, more than feasible for a team like PSG.
The name of Marcus Rashford was also considered in previous summers, an interest that has diminished with the passage of time. One does not have to be very adventurous to think that Paris may be interested in Haaland’s clause, closer to €100 million than €200 million, as AS reported, for clubs outside the Premier League.
It had been speculated that PSG had already readied €300 million to persuade the player and his entourage in 2022, before City entered the scene. Everything depends on the decision of Kylian Mbappé, but in Paris they are already thinking about a plan B. They have been doing so for a long time...