Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe seems to be edging toward a Real Madrid move, with excitement already building in the Spanish capital.
The 25-year-old France captain informed PSG officials that he intends to leave in the summer at the end of his contract, a source close to the Ligue 1 champions said on Thursday.
Madrid are in pole position to sign a player whom they have moved for several times only to be rebuffed, although they declined to comment to reporters.
Photo: AFP
Spanish media reported that Madrid’s offer to Mbappe is lower than in 2022 when he renewed his PSG contract, with Cadena SER saying he wants 50 million euros (US$54 million) gross a season along with a hefty 120 million euro sign-on bonus.
Marca reported that Mbappe had already informed club bosses “that he only wanted to play for Real Madrid” and added that he informed the Spanish giants of his decision to leave PSG on Tuesday, 48 hours before it was revealed from a source close to PSG.
With the numbers and financial fair play impact left for Madrid’s accountants to manage, supporters and local media are starting to dream of what might come.
Photo: AFP
“The countdown has started,” Marca wrote earlier in the day. “Seven years later everything points to Mbappe’s arrival being a reality from July 1.”
Mbappe had the chance to join Madrid from AS Monaco in 2017, but chose PSG instead, perhaps cowed by the difficulty of ousting Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale or Karim Benzema from the attack.
Now he could lead the line alongside Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham.
“That would be perfect,” said Luis Caceres, the president of Real Madrid’s fan club federation. “He’s the best player in the world, that’s undeniable. We’ve seen him play and we know what he can do, he’s a great player.”
On the field on Friday, Olympique Lyonnais’ resurgence under coach Pierre Sage continued as they beating second-placed OGC Nice 1-0.
Sage took over at the end of November when the seven-time champions were bottom of the league with just one win from 12 matches.
However, their sixth win in their past eight league games lifted Lyon six points clear of the relegation zone and into 11th place ahead of the rest of the weekend’s matches.
Belgian midfielder Orel Mangala swept home a low cross from the right. It was his first goal for the club since joining on loan from Nottingham Forest in the January transfer window.
Additional reporting by AP
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS