Having lost football’s reigning GOAT to Major League Soccer despite the ten-digit carrot being dangled, the Saudi Arabia Professional League’s Al-Hilal has made an equally staggering US$1.1 billion (AU$1.6 billion) bid for French superstar Kylian Mbappe — US$332 million (AU$493.3 million) in the form of a transfer fee paid to his current club Paris Saint-Germain; US$776 million (AU$1.1 billion) in a player salary for the striker himself.
Not only does this dwarf Mbappe’s existing deal with PSG, which is already valued at an enviable US$128 million (AU$190.2 million) annually, it would effectively make him the world’s highest-paid athlete by a considerable margin; exceeding the US$674 million (AU$1 billion) over four years that former PSG teammate Lionel Messi received from FC Barcelona back in 2017.
Par for the course when it comes to a franchise owned by Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
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By all accounts, accepting Al-Hilal’s terms would be the ultimate win-win scenario.
Beyond providing Mbappe with the opportunity to reach billionaire athlete status at just 24, and to compete against the likes of his fellow superstars compatriot/reigning world player of the year Karim Benzema as well as the one and only Cristiano Ronaldo; at the conclusion of this one-year deal, he’ll still be able to play for Real Madrid within his reportedly intended timeframe.
“Real Madrid, long assumed to be Mbappe’s preferred destination, has yet to show its hand. Some executives at PSG believe a deal is already in place in which Mbappe would move to the Spanish capital next summer,” notes Tariq Panja and Rory Smith of The New York Times.
“It is that expectation that Al-Hilal — most likely not the sort of place that Mbappe, at this stage of his career, would ordinarily have considered as his natural next step — hopes may provide it with an advantage.”
“Al-Hilal was expecting to hold initial talks with Fayza Lamari, Mbappe’s agent and mother, early this week, according to three people with knowledge of the offer… It is likely that the club will have to commit hundreds of millions of dollars more in salary to persuade Mbappe.”
Paris Saint-Germain has already granted Al-Hilal the record-breaking request, but at the time of this writing, Kylian Mbappe has yet to officially announce whether he’ll be heading to Saudi Arabia.
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“Previous reports have claimed that Mbappe is willing to sit on the bench in 2023-24 if needs be, and the report now claims that he is happy to not play a single minute this season if he ultimately moves to the [Real Madrid] next summer, when his contract expires,” explains Harry Sherlock of Goal.
Sherlock adds: “While Mbappe would be happy to be on the bench, Relevo reports that it presents a thorny issue for new manager Luis Enrique, particularly if PSG were to be eliminated from the Champions League without the World Cup winner.”
“The competition is central to the 24-year-old’s ambitions as he is desperate to win the trophy, and hopes to do so with Real Madrid.”
In the event young Kylian decides to join Ronaldo and Benzema, he stands to earn:
- US$64.6 million (AU$95.9 million) per month
- US$14.7 million (AU$21.8 million) per week
- US$2.1 million (AU$3.1 million) per day
- US$88,500 (AU$131,530) per hour
Outrageous scenes.
