French soccer star Kylian Mbappé reportedly turned down Al Hilal's massive $221 million annual salary offer worth up to $776 million and refused to negotiate with the Saudian Arabian club, per Fabrizio Romano.
This was always the likely outcome after Paris Saint-Germain accepted Al Hilal's record $222.5 million transfer fee Monday. But Mbappé's rejection came after the Saudi Arabian club sent a delegation to Paris to meet with the forward and perhaps seal the deal with him.
On Monday when the news broke regarding the offer put in place for Mbappe, it set the sports world on fire, well a small flame in the dog days of summer. It had NBA stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James tweeting about if they had a basketball league.
As its been proven with the type of money Saudi leagues have to offer, for example, the LIV golf tour....$776 million dollars for a one year deal, especially at the age of 24 is absurd. Mbappe is one of the premiere players in the soccer world, and with a long career ahead of him, taking this deal may not have been the worst....well besides the whole political views of Saudi Arabia.
The key issue in all of this is because Mbappé is still under contract, he doesn't have to accept any transfer. But PSG wants to move on from Mbappé via transfer fee rather than see him leave for nothing in a year. The other part is that PSG believes Mbappé has already agreed to a deal with Real Madrid for 2024, per Romano, and won't play for any club other than the Spanish juggernaut.
So for now, the three sides remain at a standstill. Mbappé is stuck at PSG, which refuses to play him and wants to find a transfer partner that Mbappé will inevitably refuse to join. And Al Hilal is still without a star player in the ever-growing Saudi league after it already failed to land Lionel Messi.
