PREMIER LEAGUE

Why Kylian Mbappé is “willing to” sign for Arsenal instead of Real Madrid

The LaLiga giants have long been the frontrunners to sign the PSG star, who is open to move to the Premier League.

STEPHANIE LECOCQREUTERS

Just a few days ago, French newspaper Le Parisien announced Kylian Mbappé had decided to leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer to join Real Madrid. Now, however, it appears Premier League club Arsenal are also in with a realistic chance of snatching the France captain away from Los Blancos, because of former Barcelona attacker Thierry Henry.

PSG star “willing” to join Arsenal

That’s according to The Independent, who claim Henry, a Gunners legend, could play a crucial role in influencing his compatriot’s decision.

In the event that Real Madrid continue to struggle to reach an agreement with Mbappé and Fayza Lamari, the player’s mother and agent, the British daily say the attacker “is willing” to try his luck in the Premier League with Arsenal.

However, the London-based team, whose co-chairman is American billionaire business Stan Kroenke, would have to splash a serious amount of cash to take Mbappé to the Emirates, which many believe they won’t be willing to do.

How much money does Mbappé want on his next contract?

According to a report from The Telegraph last month, Mbappé is looking for an annual salary of $82 million. According to Sportrac, a website that specialises in ranking sportspeople’s financial values, Kai Havertz is currently the club’s highest earner on $18.2 million per season.

Former Rangers and Scotland striker Ally McCoist, one of the most prominent pundits on UK television and radio, can’t see it happening: “There’s no chance. Not only would you break the wage structure, you’d absolutely have to obliterate it and destroy it and once you do that, you know, it’s happening. Then there’s knocks on the door, ‘He’s on this, I’m only on a quarter of that, I’ve scored this many goals’, etc etc”.

Henry scored 175 goals in an Arsenal jersey, in addition to netting 51 for France. Mbappé, still only 25, has found the net 46 times for Les Bleus already, but could he follow in his countryman’s footsteps and make the move to London? Real Madrid will certainly hope not.

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