At the heart of the Paris Saint-Germain sporting project since his arrival in 2017, Kylian Mbappé’s time in the capital club has not been completely smooth sailing. Disagreements linked to his contract extension, his role on the field or even the overall strategy of the Ile-de-France team often surfaced. This Sunday, during an interview given to “Click” on Canal +, the French international returned with sincerity to his relationship with PSG, a club which marked his career and his life. “PSG, the club, meant a lot to me. I did seven years, I took advantage of the seven years, it’s a super intense place, both good and bad. I had an amazing seven years no matter what happened afterwards which is something else“, he explained. The striker nevertheless recognizes errors in the management of his last year in Paris, where conflicts blurred his image with certain supporters: “Maybe the mistake I made last year was that I got everything mixed up, but people weren’t concerned. At the Parc des Princes, I was acclaimed from my first to my last day. On Campus too, always now“.
Despite his last year, marked by certain tensions and media excitement around his departure, his attachment to PSG remains intact. The captain of the Blues even keeps a close eye on the various results of his former club. : “I had conflicts with people who were natural, I defended my rights as a player, but it didn’t represent the club. The club gave me from the first day to the last. I never mixed everything up with the players, the people on Campus, the people on the staff. With the supporters, I could have been more expressive. They tell themselves Kylian doesn’t care, he doesn’t give a damn. Some think it was a hobby before going to Madrid. I loved every PSG match. I still watch PSG matches. People don’t understand. I played seven years, I know every blade of grass in the Park, you tell me your place, I know where you are. I know the club by heart. When they lose, I know exactly what state of mind they are in because you always have to look for the slightest little bug with this obsession for the Champions League. I know how hard it is“.
A departure validated by the Emir of Qatar in person
If his free departure had caused a lot of ink to flow in the press, but also among the fans, it seems that it did not frustrate the Parisian management more than that. “That’s not true. I remember. I’m in the car and news comes out that the Emir of Qatar is going to make an irrefutable offer to stay at PSG. I’ve had it before. I had already refused. I say hello to them. He speaks in my ears. He told me: “You see, they are all looking, they think I am going to make you an offer but you have decided to leave and I respect your decision. At the table, he calls me, I was with the president. We were talking to the good guy He said to me “You want to make your dream of going to Real Madrid come true, thank you for everything, plus you already extended the contract when the World Cup was with us in Qatar. We can never thank you enough.”“.
Image generation in progress
He continued: “It touched me. I was in a complicated situation. I told him that I would give my best until the end of the season. I will try to support the team“. Concerning the possible tensions between the owners of his former club and him, Kylian Mbappé wanted to be frank: “relations with the emir have always been at the top“. He did not escape the thorny question of a potential victory in the Champions League. And on this subject, Mbappé was frank: “Will PSG win the Champions League? For the moment, I don’t hope, because I want to win it with Madrid. In the future, I hope they will succeed, because people have suffered a lot. But not now, because I have to earn it“. The message is clear. Let’s see how PSG will take this media release, while the standoff continues with the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) for “failure to pay bonuses and salaries”.