Well there really is only one place to start this week. And that is with a certain French footballer by the name of Kylian Mbappe, you may have heard of him! Already earning a reported £2m per week as well as bonuses he has locked horns with the owners and cheque writers at PSG. so much so that he was left out of recent pre-season games and forced to train alone.
While that isn’t uncommon, we are talking about one of, if not THE most talented player on the planet right now. It all really comes down to money, and the look from the outside is unsavoury. Mbappe is happy to sit on the bench all year because he knows he is going to get a £100m loyalty bonus before he can leave for free.
Reports in the media suggest he has been speaking with Real Madrid and already has an agreement in place for a £160m signing on bonus as well as high wages.If that’s true it is illegal and against the laws of the game for someone under contract but it is a sort of unwritten rule, and widely known that this goes on so therefore it goes unchallenged and unreported.
Nonetheless it is troubling that a player can just down tools and say I’m not playing and collect a ridiculously high bonus, while also agreeing other deals elsewhere outside of his or her own contractual boundaries. The players now run the game, you only have to look back 25 years or so when the clubs had huge power and the Bosman ruling was brought in to allow players a way out of a club at the end of a contract. Now it seems to have gone too far the other way, but I can’t see it changing soon with a new influx of cash from Saudi Arabia poisoning the game.
Back to the story though, Mbappe has been subject of a £259m bid and apparently it has the option that he can leave for Real Madrid next year as he had planned while picking up £30m a week in wages. The numbers are eye watering but if they are able to pull this deal off, whether he stays for 1 year or longer, this is a huge coup, will bring broadcasters and Media companies to the table who will want to show Mbappe matches it will represent a sliding doors moment for the country. Think of it as a £1bn marketing budget. Huge corporations around the world spend this already to advertise their own products, whether that’s Google, Apple, Mcdonalds and so on.
My gut feeling is he will actually go for a year, the money is almost too much to turn down, and I believe Mbappe to be a fairly narcissistic money driven player, or that’s how it comes across and he will take the money. We will see if we have a concrete deal by this time next week.
Back to the UK, Henderson has now completed his deal to Saudi for £13m. West Ham are scrabbling around for players. They are looking at James Ward-Prowse again after having a bid rejected for Conor Gallagher, and being told a massive price for Scott McTominay. I think they should pay what it takes to get JWP, he is a quality player, years of experience in the premier league and brings leadership they will have lost with Declan Rice. They are also apparently in for Harry Maguire.
Aston Villa have been doing there business quietly and efficiently this summer. They look a real threat, Unai Emery is a top manager, they have some quality players already and have signed Tielemans and Pau Torres already. Now they have tied up a deal for Moussa Diaby who had been linked with a clutch of top clubs across Europe. He also had a massive offer from Saudi Arabia which he has turned dow to join this exciting project at Villa. Could they be the big surprise for the upcoming season.
Manchester City still haven’t sealed the deal for Josko Gvardiol, and a lot of players have already left with more potentially going. Not many other rumours to be fair to replace them but if there was a team to trust to get their transfer business correct then it’s Man City. Man Utd are still in the hunt for Atalanta Hitman Rasmus Hojlund, but £60m seems steep for a player who has scored just 8 Serie A goals thus far. We will see if there is further negotiation. Dean Henderson looks close to a loan deal to Nottingham Forest and Anthony Elanga has signed permanently for a fee of £15m.
Stay tuned to Football for Kids for more transfer news and please let us know what you’d like to know or hear about next!
