Mbappe confirms PSG exit at end of season

France's World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe confirmed on Friday in a video posted on social media platform X that he would leave Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the end of this season.

"This is my last year at Paris Saint-Germain. I will not stay on and I will end my adventure in a few weeks time," said Mbappe. 

The 25-year-old joined PSG on loan from Monaco in 2017 with a transfer fee of 180m euros, and renewed his contract with PSG in the summer of 2022, which included a 12-month extension clause for the 2024-25 season that only he can trigger. Across seven years with the French top-flight club, he won six league titles and three French Cup titles, while playing in the FIFA World Cup finals back-to-back in Russia and Qatar and winning the former. 

"It's hard, it's hard. I did not think it would be as hard as it was to announce this, to leave my country, Ligue 1 – a championship which I have always known. But I think I needed this, the need for a new challenge after this year," he added.

Mbappe did not announce where he'll be heading for, but LaLiga powerhouse Real Madrid are the hot favorites. The Spanish champions have been on the front line of chasing the French international despite being turned down in the summer of 2021 with an offer of 188m euros, when Mbappe chose instead to sign a three-year contract with PSG without the clause of an optional year.

Real upped their offer a year later but were turned down again, while Mbappe renewed his contract with PSG to two years that secured him a sum of 200m euros per year plus the optional year. This prompted LaLiga to file a complaint to UEFA, the sport's European governing body, that PSG had broken Financial Fair Play rules. 

The dramatic U-turn came shortly after, when it emerged that the mega star was not happy about how PSG planned to build the team. The relationship soured to a point when the player was left out the club's first team in July 2023 and was not reinstated until a month later. His departure this time will likely involve either a sale with a transfer fee or financial sacrifices on his part due to the clause. 

"I will play my last game at the Parc des Princes on Sunday," said Mbappe in the video. PSG is set to take on visitors Toulouse this Sunday for the last home game of this season, having already secured the league title. They currently sit nine points clear of second-placed Monaco. They also reached the French Cup final set to take place on May 25 in Lille, where visitors PSG will feature the superstar in their lineup for the last time.

Mbappe has yet to win a Champions League title, but came close in 2020 when they lost to Bayern Munich 1-0 in the final, and most recently on Tuesday when they were edged out by another German club, Borussia Dortmund, in the semi-final 2-0 on aggregate. With a club record of 255 goals, he still has until the end of the month to extend his record and win another French Cup title.