London: Arsenal have had a €100 million (£87million) bid for Kylian Mbappe rejected by Monaco. The offer is the third turned down already this summer by the French champions including a world-record fee of €120 million made by Real Madrid.
A third big club have also been thwarted and although sources would not confirm the identity, there has been interest in the precocious teenager from all of Europe’s superpowers. Those include Manchester United and Manchester City, Chelsea, Paris St-Germain — Mbappe is from Paris and the club regard him eventually returning to the city as ‘coming home’ — and Bayern Munich.
Monaco are determined to keep Mbappe during this transfer window but given that three huge offers have been made already — with the possibility of higher bids to come — they face a fight. However, given they have flatly rejected such extraordinary bids already, it shows their desire.
They also hope to end the interest by agreeing a new contract with the striker. Monaco insist they will not sell Mbappe now. The news of Arsenal’s bid for Mbappe broke on French sports newspaper L’Equipe’s television station on Thursday night and senior sources in France have now confirmed that the bid was made with Arsene Wenger wanting to make Mbappe the centrepiece of his team.
Reports of Arsenal’s bid were met with scepticism, especially in the wake of Wenger signing a new two-year deal at the club, but the offer has been made and news of it is not just an effort to appease disgruntled fans with a show of ambition.
Given Real made a big offer, it may appear confusing but Arsenal could have structured their deal differently or are also hoping that they may be a more attractive option for Mbappe and his development as a player given he is still just 18. Also, it is felt that although Real want him, the question is where does he fit into their team?
Even so the Arsenal bid has been rejected and Monaco have given no indication that they may be willing to negotiate if a bigger bid is made and are not inviting one. Mbappe is also not agitating for a move after his amazing breakthrough season that alerted the whole of Europe. Arsenal’s interest in Mbappe would also raise questions as to whether they believe they can persuade Alexis Sanchez to stay with the Chilean also in demand.
As things stand, Bayern appear the favourites to sign him with PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City also in the running although there are strong suggestions that Arsenal will not sell even though he has only has one year left on his contract.
Monaco are braced for a number of bids for their young players but want to ensure they do not sell too many this summer. They have sold playmaker Bernardo Silva to City for £43 million with Pep Guardiola also wanting full-back Benjamin Mendy, although no agreement has yet been reached.
Chelsea are in talks to acquire midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, who is also wanted by other clubs.
— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2017
