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Kylian Mbappé will be French President Emmanuel Macron’s surprise guest at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday night, just weeks after informing Paris Saint-Germain that he will leave the club at the end of the summer.
The France captain has been the Ligue 1 champions’ star player since moving to the Parc des Princes in 2018, but has long been linked with a successful move to Real Madrid.
The 25-year-old has reached an agreement with the LaLiga team after years of links with his arrival at the Bernabéu, but neither PSG nor Real Madrid have shared a formal statement announcing the player’s decision.
Mail Sport reported last week that the World Cup winner will take a huge pay cut upon joining Carlo Ancelotti’s team, as he currently earns a whopping £21.4m (€25m) net per season. in the French capital.
But while President Macron may have previously tried to influence Mbappé’s decision to leave his home country, according to Le ParisianTuesday night’s event will see the player invited to a dinner in honor of the visiting Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
Kylian Mbappé (right) will be a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron (left) on Tuesday
The Paris Saint-Germain star will be welcomed at the Elysee Palace weeks after deciding to leave the club.
Macron previously tried to tempt Mbappé to stay with the Ligue 1 series winners
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Joining Mbappé at the dinner will be PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who heads the club’s ownership group Qatar Sports Investments.
Sheikh Tamim is believed to have been invited to the capital by France’s prime minister in a bid to help negotiations between Israel and Hamas over a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
At the end of last season, Mbappé was quick to deny that Macron had played a role in trying to convince him to stay at the French club, after the striker sent a letter in June to PSG detailing his decision not to renew his contract. , which expires this year.
‘What influence does the President have? In my career today, in 2023, none,” Mbappé told reporters before the qualifying round for the European Championship in France later that month.
“He wants me to stay in Paris, my goal is to stay (for next season). We are on the same wavelength.”
Macron, whose term will end in 2027 due to France’s two-term constitutional limit, previously shared that in 2022 he had spoken to Mbappé about his future playing in his country’s top flight.
“Yes, it is true that I had a conversation with Kylian Mbappé before he made a firm decision about his future,” Macron said in June of that year.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who heads the Qatar Sports Investment ownership group, is also invited.
Tuesday night’s dinner is in honor of the visiting Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.
France’s prime minister previously sought to console Mbappe after his World Cup final defeat in Doha.
«In it I simply advised him, in a completely informal way, to remain in France. “I believe it is my responsibility, as president, to defend the country when asked in an informal and friendly manner.”
Later that year, Macron wanted to console the PSG star after France lost the World Cup final to Argentina in Qatar, and revealed what he had told the player when he collected his runners-up medal.
“I told him that he is only 23 years old, that he was the top scorer of the World Cup, he won a World Cup, he was in a final,” Macron said. “I was as sad as he was.
“I told him he had made us very proud and in the end we lost a football match, we were very close. That’s how it is in sport.”
But a dejected Mbappe seemed keen to shake off his president’s awkward overtures and appeared to blank Macron during the post-match presentation.
