The Spanish press have been getting excited over the possibility of seeing both of PSG’s crown jewels in La Liga next season. Mbappe has made little secret of his love of Real Madrid and hero-worship of manager Zinedine Zidane, while Neymar had already pushed hard to move back to Barcelona last summer.
Will they go this time? Unlikely.
Mbappe will be in a stronger bargaining position in 2021 with a year left on his contract and – according to recent reports in France – the Emir of Qatar’s “will” is for the World Cup winner to stay.
The same goes for Neymar, another favorite of the Gulf state’s ruler, and he too has another two years on his PSG deal.
Most significantly, the tears that flooded from him after qualifying behind closed doors against Dortmund, and the acclaim of the fans outside the Parc des Princes’ locked gates, suggested his Nou Camp nostalgia is no more.
A thornier question for other less financially muscled French clubs will be how to hold on to their best players in the summer transfer window, if there is a mercato, as it’s known in France.