Paris (AFP)
If there was still any doubt about his future in Paris, Kylian Mbappé raised it at the best time: the French prodigy confirmed on Tuesday that he would evolve "whatever happens" at PSG next season, while looming on Friday its first final of the summer.
"I'm here. I'm in the project for a fourth year": in a simple sentence dropped at the microphone of beIN Sports, at half-time of the last preparation match against Celtic Glasgow (4-0) before the final of Coupe de France, the world champion (21) has once again proven his sense of timing to get his messages across.
"The 50th anniversary of the club is an important year for the club, the supporters, everyone, so I will be there no matter what. I will try to bring back trophies with the team and give the best of myself, "continued Mbappé, who arrived at PSG in 2017 from Monaco against the resounding sum of EUR 180 million.
The first PSG player to score a goal under the new "Hechter" style Parisian jersey, in tribute to the design imagined by the emblematic former president of PSG, "KM" on Tuesday proved his desire to mark the fiftieth anniversary ... at the end a minute of play!
Regularly relaunched by the Spanish press, the soap opera of a possible departure from Real Madrid seemed to have stopped anyway: the president of the Madrid club Florentino Pérez assured last week that there would be "no great recruits this summer "in an economic context weighed down by the coronavirus pandemic.
- "Nice connection" with Neymar -
What to delight the Parisian coach Thomas Tuchel, happy to be able to count on the French striker for at least one additional season.
"Kylian has a contract with us, we're not ready to sell him. He's super important, he's a key player, our player. It's a gift to work with him, with players like Neymar, Di Maria, Icardi, Verratti, Marquinhos ... They are extraordinary players, "he said at the post-match press conference.
"It's great! There is really a great connection between him and Neymar. It gives a lot of pleasure to everyone. It's a real strength for PSG. It's great like that," he said. he adds.
With respectively four and three goals scored since the resumption on July 12 in a friendly in Le Havre, "Ney" and "KM" largely participated in the festival of goals of their team during this phase of preparation (20 goals in three matches), without count the assists and the many chances created.
Another symbol of their complicity on and off the field, Neymar's perfect assist, from the start, that Kylian Mbappé did not fail to achieve to open the scoring against the Scottish club.
- Extension, the next soap opera -
During the confinement, which he spent in the South of France with his relatives, "KM" did not miss the opportunity to give winks to supporters and his teammates on social networks.
His attachment to Paris, his city of birth, having been reinforced since the evening of the qualification for the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the expense of Dortmund (1-2, 2-0), at the beginning of March in a Park at huis closed but animated by thousands of supporters on fire outside the stadium. A memory that deeply marked him.
If his present in Paris is now assured, remains the great challenge to come: the extension of his contract, which ends in 2022, like that of Neymar.
"He is the future of PSG. That's what everyone wants. The ideal would be to extend," Leonardo, the Parisian sports director, has already pleaded in a big interview with JDD at the end of June.
"Among the five best players in the world, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are 32 and 35 years old; Neymar and Mbappé are 28 and 21 years old, and they are with us. There is no need to think too much. 'to have, because it's something huge. After that, we have to find the solution to continue the adventure together, "he added.
Despite the postponement to next year of the Euro and the Tokyo Olympics, and despite the cancellation of the 2020 edition of the Ballon d'Or due to the Covid-19, his "dream" of League of champions is still at hand. While waiting for a year 2021 on all fronts ...
© 2020 AFP