Man City's stance on big-money Mbappe transfer bid after Guardiola admission

28 July 2023 , 20:07

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Man City's stance on big-money Mbappe transfer bid after Guardiola admission

Manchester City are not preparing to enter the race for PSG's Kylian Mbappe this summer.

The Parisians are determined to offload the forward, who will be a free agent in 12 months time, this summer. PSG and Mbappe have been involved in a war of words regarding his future but the French club are not ready to let him leave for nothing.

PSG have accepted a world-record bid from Saudi side Al-Hilal, but Mbappe had no interest in entering discussions with them. The Ligue 1 champions are still happy to field offers despite believing that the Les Blues star has an agreement in place to join Real Madrid next summer.

The Athletic understands that, whilst City have the finances to take Mbappe, they will not enter the race for the 24-year-old. Pep Guardiola's side have just claimed the treble and are an attractive proposition but their recruitment focus is elsewhere with Erling Haaland already on their books.

Correspondent David Ornstein said on Rio Ferdinand's FIVE YouTube channel: "Many have raised that possibility, whether it’s realistic or not, I’m pretty doubtful. You’ve got an enormous salary there which, not many Premier League clubs, if any, could finance and comply with financial fair play rules. There have been suggestions that maybe only Man City could do this deal, especially if it was a transfer fee involved.

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"Of course, they all like him, who wouldn’t like him? There’ll be interest from every club, there’d be admiration from Chelsea, from Manchester United, from Arsenal, from Man City, from Liverpool, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to do this deal."

Man City are not looking to sign Kylian Mbappe this summer

Guardiola, who won the third Champions League of his managerial career earlier this summer, has already been quizzed on the prospect of pursuing Mbappe but joked with reporters, insisting everyone knows his ideal destination. "You know which team he wants to go to," said the City boss.

Mbappe has long talked up the possibility of playing for Los Blancos, who were in for the forward when he was a teenager at Monaco, only to lose out to PSG. The Spanish giants have just spent big to land Jude Bellingham, making a move for Mbappe difficult this summer.

In 12 months time though they will be able to acquire him for nothing, albeit he will command huge wages. Real have seen Karim Benzema depart for Saudi Arabia this summer but have bought in Joselu and appear content to wait for the French World Cup winner.

Samuel Meade