Paris Saint Germain are 11 points clear at the top of the Ligue 1 table and are getting themselves ready for a Champions League Round of 16 clash with Real Sociedad on Wednesday.
The Ligue 1 2024 betting odds have pretty much closed the book on the France top flight after the Parisiens beat Lille 3-1 at the weekend…without Kylian Mbappe in the side! He is set to be back in the frame for the European date but the news about the Les Bleus star is, as ever, about his future.
The saga surrounding Mbappe’s widely predicted move to Real Madrid continues, and reports coming out of Spain this week suggest there is still a lot of work to do. Why? Well because Mbappe’s mum, Fayza Lamari, is a notoriously tough woman to deal with. She is acting as her son’s representative and Spanish news outlet Marca has reported Real Madrid are finding negotiations rather harder than they had hoped. Lamari is proving difficult to budge as she tries to get the best possible terms for Mbappe.
When the player first announced his wish to play for Los Blancos, back in 2021, Lamari did an interview in an attempt to smooth a situation which was causing unhappy rumblings at the Parc des Princes. She said that while Mbappe wanted to play for Real Madrid he was also delighted to be in Paris, much to the approval of French President Emmanuel Macron. Lamari went on to tell Le Parisien newspaper that his dad and lawyer wanted him to stay with the Ligue 1 giants while she wanted him to leave but, in the end, the final decision rested with Kylian.
But right now the dealmakers at the Santiago Bernabeu apparently can’t see that Mbappe’s mum is so keen for him to join them, as the two parties are a long way apart in their hoped for numbers. It was reported in January that the 25 year old wanted a staggering £60m per year and a signing on fee of £107m. And while the player is apparently willing to make some compromises it seems his mother may prove harder to convince.
Over in the UK, Premier League title chasers Arsenal and Liverpool will not make a move as neither club is willing to blow its wage structure to pieces, and that just leaves Real Madrid in the frame, unless there is a late entrant over the next three months. And rumours are circulating that Los Blancos have been monitoring Manchester City’s goal machine Erling Haaland, as some cheeky speculators have suggested the Norwegian is fed up with the rainy weather in Manchester. I doubt he’s getting tired with football in England though, having just bagged a brace in the Sky Blues win over Everton as Pep Guardiola’s side chase another treble.
Of course, Real Madrid fans can’t keep their eyes off the Ligue 1 2024 updates in the hope that Mbappe is set to become their man and, if they do finally seal the deal in the summer they will get a player who has scored 155 goals in 168 games for PSG and 46 in 75 for France, as well as picking up six Ligue 1 titles and a World Cup winners medal…and he may not yet have reached his peak! Los Blancos star Rodrygo has said he would love Kylian Mbappe to come to the club in the summer and acclaimed the PSG star ‘one of the best in the world.’
But Paris fans, though they may be resigned to seeing their talisman leave after seven stellar campaigns at the Parc des Prices (he has outlasted other megastars like Lionel Messi and Neymar), still hope he will have a big say for their club this season. PSG finished second to Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League group, despite winning only two of six games, and Real Sociedad, who won their own group won’t be a pushover. The domestic league title is virtually in the bag, but PSG have still failed to break through the glass ceiling of Europe and, if this is finally their year, then Mbappe will leave with the fans’ blessing.
While Kylian Mbappe is still Ligue 1’s biggest star and one of the hottest properties in world sport, his younger brother Ethan has broken through this season and he recently joined the PSG first team squad. Here at SBOTOP we’ll keep an eye on his kid brother who looks set to have his own glittering career. Ethan is still only 17 years old but when the young midfielder needs an agent to get the best deal for him…he knows where to go.
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