La Liga giants Real Madrid have reportedly banned any mention of Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe until January at the earliest after their summer-long transfer saga involving the 22-year-old World Cup winner.
Madrid have been touted with a move for Mbappe for many months, the level of speculation increasing in recent weeks given the PSG striker is out of contract come the end of the season.
'Los Blancos' saw a number of bids for Mbappe rejected at the tail-end of the summer transfer window, though the French international could still sign a pre-contractual agreement with Real Madrid as early as January of next year.
Despite recent comments from PSG sporting director Leonardo suggesting the club do not see Mbappe leaving anytime soon, Spanish outlet El Chriringuito claim Real Madrid will make yet another approach in the new year.
Leonardo told Canal Plus : "We never thought about doing all this without Kylian. We were not happy with the behaviour of Real Madrid.
“We were clear about the offer they made. It was not enough from our point of view. It was less than what we paid. As for their last offer, it never arrived. I don’t see Kylian leaving at the end of this season."
The reports from Spain suggest that Mbappe's name has been banned from being mentioned within Real Madrid's training facilities, even their corridors, such is their desperation over stopping the relentless conversations about the player.
The motivation behind the idea is thought to be so that players and staff alike can devote all their attention to the current campaign as they bid to regain the La Liga title and mount a charge for the Champions League under the returning Carlo Ancelotti.
PSG have made no secret of the fact that Mbappe had expressed his desire to leave in the summer, but even a third bid worth £189m was not enough to tempt the Parisians into parting ways with one of their many star men.
Where will Mbappe play his football next season? Have your say here.
Mbappe's teammate and former Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera believes that how PSG fare this season will determine the forward's future in the long-term, while claiming the striker had told the Spaniard he would not leave last summer.
"I had an intuition that he was staying," said Herrera. "This is what he and the club were telling us. I asked him two weeks before the market ended and he said: 'I'm here.'
"Everything I saw did not marry up with what was happening here. What happens this season may affect Mbappe staying."
