The striker has reportedly told Nasser Al-Khelaifi that he will leave the Parc des Princes this summer to bring a long overdue end to the drama.
Shortly after the news broke on Thursday that Kylian Mbappe confirmed his intention to leave Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season, Aurelian Tchouameni posted a post on social media in which there was nothing but a couple of popcorn emojis. Needless to say. The message was clear and succinct: Tchouameni couldn't wait to see what would happen next for football's longest-running soap opera.
Of course, the excitement of the French is quite understandable. Tchouameni has every reason to believe his compatriot will join Real Madrid soon. Certain financial hurdles still need to be addressed, but it should not be long before Mbappe officially confirms his belated move to the Bernabeu this summer.
This has always been the dream of the winger, as has the president of Madrid, Florentino Pérez. For Paris Saint-Germain, however, it was a nightmare.
Paris Saint-Germain's brand has been greatly damaged.
The French champions may actually end up with some sort of financial compensation – Mbappe may give up some of the bonuses owed to him or even give his signing fee to PSG – but the club will pay an incredibly heavy price for losing the best player in the world in terms of sponsorship deals, business opportunities and social ** followers.
Even with both Neymar and Messi on the books, Mbappe remains PSG's most valuable player in every way. Not only is he one of the great talents of gaming, but he is also a homegrown hero.
In their ideal world, the boy from Bondi would lead PSG to their first Champions League title – and he could still be before he leaves. But this particular Parisian fairy tale has long since been reduced to a farce.
Paris Saint-Germain promised playing time.
Real Madrid have been interested in Mbappe for a long time, and vice versa. In 2012, Real Madrid invited the kid to the club's training ground for the first time with posters of Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zinedine Zidane on his bedroom wall. In the summer of 2017, Real Madrid also reached an agreement with Monaco to sign Mbappe, but the teenage star was surprisingly plump. Changed to Paris Saint-Germain.
It's not just about money," Luis Ferrer, who has been with PSG's recruitment team for 10 years, told Goal.com. It's completely different, it takes time, months, and months. He's just had an amazing season at Monaco and everyone knows he's a gem, but we also know he's Madrid's top priority.
So, Madrid is there, and there's no way to stop that. [Madrid is also Mbappe's dream] – that's why we know there's still a lot of work to be done.
We had to come up with brilliant ideas. Everyone is working together to make this happen. But my idea is to tell Mbappe to join PSG first because the [2018] World Cup is coming up and provide him with a *** starting line-up, maybe then Real Madrid can't promise him.
We made this commitment because we believe in his talent. It's very rare and I've only promised a footballer once that they're going to play. Usually the coach does this, but because [former Paris Saint-Germain manager] Unai [Emery] was involved in the talks ......”
In fact, Unai Emery played a key role in convincing Mbappe and his parents that PSG was the best option at that stage of his career.
I want to write history in my city".
However, the idea of returning to Paris has also created a huge appeal for Mbappe. "I've always said that I want to write history in France, in the capital, in my country, in my city," he told Canal+. The importance of Mbappe's upbringing at Bondi is certainly hard to underestimate for his entire worldview.
I think football is different for us. It is essential," he wrote in the Players Tribune. "It's like that every day. It's like bread and water. At Bondi, you learn values that go beyond football. You learn to treat everyone equally because you are all in the same pot. You all dream of the same dream".
So, after officially becoming a PSG player in September 2017, he returned to Bondi to meet and welcome the next generation of children who dream of following in his footsteps.
The event may have been organized by Mbappe's main sponsor, Nike, but from PSG's point of view, it also brings great benefits. Bondi is just one particularly productive suburb of one of the best breeding grounds for football talent in the world. Therefore, having Mbappe as a poster boy is priceless PR for PSG.
I also came for collective achievement".
Of course, Mbappe also showed on the pitch. He is currently on track to become Ligue 1's top scorer for the sixth consecutive season and has already replaced Edinson Cavani as PSG's most prolific player in history.
However, as Mbappe pointedly said at the time, "It's an individual achievement, but I'm also here for the collective achievement. ”
At that stage, Mbappe's dissatisfaction with PSG's progress and inability to consistently challenge for the Champions League became apparent.
He looks ready to leave on a free transfer for the first time in 2022. Madrid were convinced they had finally found their man, but Mbappe made a dramatic U-turn and chose to stay in Paris after being promised more money and more. More power.
Paris Saint-Germain has denied appointing Mbappe as de facto sporting director, but Nasser Al-Khelaifi has said he will be "the cornerstone of the club's project".
This particular project is now on the verge of collapse – which may not be a bad thing, as it will get the club out of Mbappe, but it will also give the club an unhealthy obsession with superstars.
This is not Kylian Saint-Germain".
In a dispute with the club over image rights, Mbappe has memorably stated that while PSG is "one big family, it is certainly not Kylian Saint-Germain".
But in recent years, I have felt that way. Mbappe has become bigger than the club – they know that too, which is why they have repeatedly gone out of their way to meet his every request.
Last year, their patience seemed to have finally run out, and a letter confirming his intention to leave the club in 2024 was mysteriously – and conveniently – leaked to **.
Mbappe was ruled out of the Asian pre-season but was finally welcomed back into the team after "very constructive and positive talks" between the two sides.
Mbappe responded to the altercation in unsurprisingly prolific fashion, scoring 31 goals in just 30 appearances in all competitions, including Tuesday's crucial Champions League last-16 win over Real Sociedad.
Paris Saint-Germain existed before Mbappe".
However, there were reports that he told Al-Khelaifi ahead of that game at the Parc des Princes that he would be leaving PSG this summer – and it felt like Mbappe was serious this time around, which should actually give him a sigh of relief. Paris Saint-Germain.
Because this soap opera has been going on for too long. The ongoing controversy has done nothing but damage PSG's efforts to convince the world that they are a serious club. At one point, he even argued that his achievements were underestimated because he played for Paris Saint-Germain, a "club of the best" that was "prone to gossip".
Mbappe clearly has legitimate complaints about the way PSG have operated over the years, but ironically, he is responsible for so many endless, distracting tabloid remarks, non-stop flirting with Madrid, grumpy on the pitch and a lot of criticism of Real Madrid. His own coach had apparently lost interest in him.
As Jerome Rothen once said, Mbappe "makes too much noise", portraying him as the kind of character who will react by "pouring gasoline on the fire", while Christophe Dugarry said back in 2019 that the Mbappe-PSG love would "go bad very quickly".
There is no doubt that his exit will be hit hard, but as former sporting director Leonardo pointed out, it is difficult to build a successful team around such a fickle figure.
For the benefit of PSG, I think the time has come for Mbappe to leave anyway," Leonardo told La Corps last year. PSG existed before Kylian Mbappe and will exist after him. ”
So, while this may not be the ending PSG wants, at least it's finally over.