Saudi Soccer Club Eyes Mbappe With Record $330M Transfer Bid
Saudi Arabian soccer team Al Hilal has made a record €300 ($333 million) bid for French striker Kylian Mbappé, according to his current team Paris Saint-Germain. The offer comes one month after the Saudi club missed out on signing Lionel Messi.
The offer for the 24-year-old global star is the most aggressive move yet for the league that is ready to spend billions of dollars to raise its profile. Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al Nassr in December, and Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kanté and Roberto Firmino are among the players to join this summer under lucrative pacts. Benzema is the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, while at Real Madrid.
More from Sportico.com
Messi's Next Moves Include a Victory Lap and a Lot of Questions
Inter Miami's Messi Ticket Take Supercharged by MLS Rule Change
Mbappé is under contract with PSG for one more season at a salary of more than $100 million. There has been a growing expectation that he would join Real Madrid on a free transfer following the 2023-24 campaign.
Al Hilal’s $333 million fee would go to PSG, and the Saudi club would need to secure a playing contract with Mbappé for the transfer to be completed. Al Hilal reportedly is willing to pay the record transfer for Mbappé even if it is only for one season at the club.
A representative for Mbappé did not return a request to comment. Mbappé finished atop Sportico’s look at the world’s highest-paid soccer players last year with $125 million in salary and endorsements, and he ranked 25th among the highest-paid athletes in 2022.
The divorce between PSG and Mbappé seems inevitable at this point after his decision not to pick up his one-year extension option on his contract. Last week, PSG dropped him from its roster for the club’s preseason tour in Japan. PSG would like to recoup some of the €180 million transfer fee it paid AS Monaco for Mbappé in 2018; Messi left PSG on a free transfer this summer. The richest transfer all time was PSG’s €222 million deal for Neymar in 2018.
Mbappé has the highest estimated current transfer value of any player at €180 million, according to the Transfermarkt database. He’s followed by Erling Haaland (€170 million), Vinicius Junior (€150 million) and Jude Bellingham (€120 million).
Mbappé has finished as Ligue 1’s top scorer in each of the past five seasons and led France to the 2018 World Cup.
Best of Sportico.com
