Mbappé signs new 3-year deal with PSG

Paris, May 21 (EFE).- French striker Kylian Mbappé has agreed a new contract with Paris Saint-Germain that will keep the superstar in his hometown until 2025, the club announced Saturday before the start of the final match of the Ligue 1 season.

“Today I have some very good news,” PSG boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi told the crowd at Parc des Princes before confirming media reports that the 23-year-old France international had decided to remain with the club.

Mbappé then joined the club president in holding up a PSG shirt emblazoned with the star’s name and 2025, as fireworks went off behind them.

“I am very happy to be here in France, in Paris, in my city,” Mbappé said to a thunderous reaction from the PSG supporters. “I have always said that Paris is my home.”

He went on to score a hat trick as the hosts thrashed Metz 5-0 before hoisting their record-tying 10th Ligue 1 trophy.

Confirmation of the contract extension put an end to a long-running saga in which the player debated between remaining with PSG or accepting a lucrative offer from LaLiga champions Real Madrid.

Last summer, PSG, which is owned by Qatar Sports Investments, a subsidiary of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, rejected a reported bid of better than $200 million from Real Madrid for the rights to Mbappé, but the player was widely tipped to join the Blancos on a free transfer when his current contract expired on June 30.

While neither the club nor the player discussed the terms of the new three-year deal, Sky Sports reported that PSG topped Real Madrid’s offer to Mbappé, promising a $125 million signing bonus and to double his monthly salary to $5 million.

Real Madrid has yet to comment publicly on the latest developments, but even before the official announcement, LaLiga reacted with outrage to the prospect of Mbappé’s remaining with PSG.

“LaLiga will file a complaint against PSG before UEFA, the French administrative and fiscal authorities and European Union authorities to continue to defend the economic ecosystem of European football and its sustainability,” the Spanish top-flight said in a statement.

“This type of agreement attacks the economic stability of European football, putting at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs and the integrity of the sport,” LaLiga said.

“PSG is assuming an impossible investment, seeing that it has an unacceptable wage bill and large financial losses in prior seasons. It is violating current UEFA and French economic control rules,” according to the statement. EFE atc-jjl/ks-dr