Kylian Mbappe has admitted he was nearly forced to sit out the entire 2023/24 campaign over his contract dispute with Paris Saint-Germain.
The Frenchman privately confirmed last summer that he did not plan on extending his contract and so, with just one year remaining on his contract, he was immediately put up for sale as PSG sought to avoid losing arguably the most valuable player on the planet for nothing.
An agreement was eventually reached which saw PSG compensated by Mbappe, but only after the 25-year-old, who has since signed on with Real Madrid, was warned he would spend the entire season on the sidelines if he did not accept the club’s offer of a new contract.
“They told me that [I wouldn’t play all season], they made me understand it, it was very clear,” Mbappe told a press conference. “I was spoken to violently. I was convinced that I was not going to play.
“Luis Campos and Luis Enrique saved me. Without them, I would never have played. The truth was very much that as I had a good relationship with the coach and the sporting director.
“I hear all the criticism, I think I am the best person to understand and judge my performances. Considering everything I’ve experienced, just playing was my greatest pride.”
Despite the tension, Mbappe went on to insist he was never unhappy with life at PSG.
“At PSG, I wasn’t unhappy,” he claimed. “Saying I was would be spitting in the faces of those who defended me and supported me. I was always happy at PSG but it’s clear there were things and people there that made me unhappy.
“And nobody there would say I was unhappy because I was a leader in the team and someone for people to follow and we don’t follow someone who drags their feet. It’s difficult to follow someone like that.
“I tried to be as positive as possible. And all the coaches, the players, everyone at the club really helped me.
“Excuse the expression, it’s an angry way of saying it, but I would be a b*****d to come here and say, having joined a new club, that I was unhappy at PSG with all the people who are there. But there were things there that made me unhappy for sure.
“But there’s worse things in the world. That’s football. I was always told growing up to never show up and start crying. I’m extremely well paid for someone in football compared to others in the game. There are others who have a job who earn less than me, who go to factories every day. I’ve never had to wake up and go to a factory.
“It’d be quite inappropriate for me, Kylian Mbappe, to come here complain in front of the world when horrible things are happening in the world. There are worse things, but it wasn’t pleasant for me either. But that’s how I’ve grown up, it’s in my nature.”
What we know
- Mbappe informed PSG last summer of his decision not to extend his contract
- Club officials threatened to keep Mbappe on the sidelines all season before a compromise was found
- Frenchman has since signed on with Real Madrid.