Former Paris Saint-Germain chief Leonardo believes Kylian Mbappe has to leave the club amid links with Liverpool.
The saga surrounding Mbappe has been reignited this summer after the France forward expressed his desire not to extend his contract at the Parc des Princes beyond 2024. That means in 12 months time Ligue 1's Golden Boot winner for the last five years could leave on a free transfer.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said it "is impossible" for that to happen and that the club "cannot let the best player in the world right now leave for free." It means the French champions could sell Mbappe this summer as they look to recoup the funds that they could lose out on should the former AS Monaco talisman see out his current contract.
Real Madrid are widely considered the favourites to land Mbappe after announcing the big-money arrival of Jude Bellingham. Liverpool have previously held an interest in the forward. However, the club's outgoing direct of research, Dr Ian Graham, recently revealed the 24-year-old is out of the club's league financially.
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After winning the 'France Football' trophy, Mbappe provided another explosive interview with the magazine, in which he expressed his dissatisfaction at his current situation.
Following the release of the interview, reports emerged that players within the PSG dressing room had complained about some of the comments made by Mbappe. And the criticism didn't stop there as Leonardo, who was Paris' sporting director between 2019 and 2022, urged his former club to sell the striker.
"For the good of PSG, I think the time has come for Mbappe to go, no matter what," he said in an interview with L'Equipe. "Paris-Saint-Germain existed before Kylian Mbappe and it will exist after him.
"He's been in Paris for six years and, over those six seasons, five different clubs have won the Champions League [Real Madrid in 2018 and 2022, Liverpool in 2019, Bayern Munich in 2020, Chelsea in 2021 and Manchester City in 2023], none of which had Mbappe in their ranks. That means it's entirely possible to win this competition without him."
"With his behaviour over the last two years, Mbappe is showing that he's not yet a player capable of really guiding a team," Leonardo continued. "He's a great player, not a leader. He's a great goalscorer, not a creative one. It's hard to build a team around him."
