You’d be forgiven if you’d forgotten for a minute that there are other clubs in France other than Paris Saint-Germain. They’ve secured the signing of the century in Lionel Messi, but that is not the end of the road for their wealthy president Nasser al-Khelaifi, who is set to tie all the club’s stars to long-term contracts. Current priority is – Kylian Mbappe.Messi has signed, another superstar Neymar has extended his contract until 2025. Mbappe’s contract, however, is set to expire in less than 12 months. Unless he agrees to a contract extension, any club could snatch him in January without paying a transfer fee. “Any club” – read “Real Madrid”.Messi can’t wait to play with Mbappe and Neymar 🙌 pic.twitter.com/zhIyDHv7Fl— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) August 11, 2021 Madrid-based newspaper AS ran a front-page story with a pompous headline of: “Mbappe is possible”. They went on to report that “the arrival of Messi at PSG pushes Mbappe aside and paves the way for his arrival in Madrid.”Mbappe has refused to rush into a decision over his future, leaving PSG in something of an awkward situation. They are not considering selling him but nor do they want to see a player who cost $211 million, the second-highest transfer fee in history, leave for free. In an interview with Canal Plus three months ago, the young French star professed his love for the club but was rather cold regarding a new deal. “Everyone knows that I am deeply attached to this club. But I want to feel that I am in a place where I really can win, where there is a project in place to do that.”Messi: ‘I want to win the Champions League’Adding Messi to the squad should be enough to persuade Mbappe that his current club is indeed on the right trail to Champions League glory. Messi himself said that it’s his goal to win Europe’s best competition whilst in a PSG shirt. When asked about Mbappe’s future at Messi’s unveiling on Wednesday, Al-Khelaifi insisted that the France striker was now in the best possible place to fulfil his ambitions.”Kylian is a Paris player. He is very competitive. He has a winning mentality. He has said publicly that he wanted a competitive team, and there is no more competitive team than this. He has no excuse for doing anything other than staying.”Saturday, 22:00: (1.28) PSG (6.00) Strasbourg (9.50)It should be a no-brainer for Mbappe to stay, but the lure of Estadio Santiago Bernabeu should not be underestimated. The Spanish giants are determined to return to the top of La Liga and reclaim the title from their city rivals Atletico. As for Barcelona – they don’t look like title contenders at the minute, with financial troubles and the painful departure of Messi largely disrupting the atmosphere at Camp Nou.As well as Messi, PSG have also signed Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos, Georginio Wijnaldum and Achraf Hakimi this summer. They look better than ever in all areas of the pitch, but might Mbappe feel that he will have to give up too much of the limelight by staying in Paris now Messi has arrived?PSG say Mbappe’s here to stay 👊 pic.twitter.com/A87kSN2jj4— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 11, 2021 Mbappe wants to be the number one. After all, he is the only PSG’s front line member to have won the World Cup. Will his ego dictate his next career move?
