PRETTY SPECIAL’ IF KYLIAN MBAPPE JOINS FROM PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN

Kylian Mbappe has reportedly decided to join Real Madrid this summer at the expiration of his current contract at Paris Saint-Germain. TNT Sports Goals Show pundit and French football journalist Julien Laurens believes this will not be detrimental to the club’s Champions League prospects, as the French champions prepare for their last 16 first-leg tie against Real Sociedad on February 14.

Julien Laurens believes that Real Madrid will become “a massive monster” if Kylian Mbappe joins from Paris Saint-Germain this summer to build “something pretty special”.

Mbappe’s contract with PSG is up at the end of the end of the season, and despite rumours of a giant new contract to stay in the French capital, nothing has been confirmed and he is free to negotiate a move away on a Bosman transfer should he wish.

Real Madrid have been his expected destination for the last few years and he has been close to a departure more than once, so nobody is sure that the 25-year-old French international will leave, but it appears to be the likeliest outcome.

“Mbappe has been in Paris for seven years, he arrived in 2017 as a very young player. I think he’s given seven pretty amazing years in Paris. He broke a lot of records in terms of scoring goals, making things happen,” Laurens said.

“Even if this is the last chance that he has really to bring the Champions League to Paris for the first time ever, which is the main reason why he stayed two years ago instead of going to Real Madrid at the time, it was to try to give it one last go.

“To try to win the Champions League finally, and bring the trophy back to Paris. Even if he doesn’t do that this year, I still think that people will look at the seven years and remember him as one of the top, top players that PSG have had in the club’s history.

“Seven years to see him grow the way he has, through those years, to obviously lead France to a World Cup triumph, to go to another final. Even if the Champions League has escaped him and the team, he still has been, I think, incredible.”

Laurens believes that the time has come for Mbappe to look elsewhere, saying: “I think it is the right time for him to go, at 25 years old. It’s a shame for PSG and for Ligue 1 to lose one of the best players in the world, if not the best player in the world, but it was always going to happen at some point.

“So, I think he gave seven really good years, and from a PSG point of view, it’s how you replace him. That is the biggest challenge now.”

The journalist reflected on the team that Real Madrid are close to establishing should Mbappe arrive, with the depth of young talent.

“When you think about the current Real Madrid team, and if you add Kylian Mbappe to Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr, and [Aurelien] Tchouameni and [Eduardo] Camavinga, it becomes a massive monster really, and something pretty special that they’re building in Madrid,” he said.

“Florentino Perez has been very clever in the way that he’s constructed this team and this squad. Carlo Ancelotti has also extended his contract, so there’s that stability and the consistency in terms of who will be on the bench. Then, when you put all this talent together, you can just imagine how good this team will be when everybody is fit.

“When they just click together, Vinicius, Mbappe, Bellingham as a front three is pretty extraordinary. And then beyond that for the next five to six years, you’ve got potentially an amazing team that can dominate Europe. So adding Mbappe to what is already a really good, talented squad, I think is going to make Real Madrid very, very special.”

Laurens also believes that continued speculation surrounding Mbappe’s future will have no impact on Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League hopes.

He feels that rumours regarding Mbappe will not shock anyone at the club ahead of a last-16 tie against Real Sociedad on Wednesday.

He even believes that the clarity amid the constant speculation can give help the PSG players added focus away from any off-pitch distractions.

“Nothing is going to change,” he told TNT Sports. “He will finish the season as well as he can, so will the team and Luis Enrique. It’s not going to change anything either in the sense that he will leave in six months.

“I think the club, Luis Enrique and most of the dressing room expected it anyway. They knew there was more of a chance he would leave than him staying another season or two. So now it will be clear for everyone on the pitch.”

Laurens looked ahead at the two-legged tie against the San Sebastian outfit in more detail, and while PSG will be favourites, he says the La Liga side deserves respect for a promising European campaign to date.

“I think it’s a tricky tie; PSG are the favourites to go through because this Real Sociedad team has injuries,” he explained.

“But it’s a really good team, we saw that against Inter. They topped that group and played with high intensity, which PSG struggled against when Dortmund, Milan and Newcastle did it to them.

“This is still a team that depends a lot on Kylian Mbappe and if he doesn’t show up, like against Dortmund or in Milan and Newcastle, they struggled a bit.”

PSG have hardly been convincing in securing their place in the Champions League knockout stages.

A 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund was enough to seal second spot ahead of AC Milan via matches played between the two sides.