Understandably, all of the headlines are revolving around Neymar, with the Brazil international on the verge of making a record-breaking move to Paris Saint-Germain.
The £198 million release clause has been met and paid, and it’s going to go down as the biggest transfer in history with many not being able to fathom why the 25-year-old would leave Barcelona to move to the French capital.
MBAPPE TO MADRID?
Nevertheless, the Neymar saga wasn’t the first big piece of speculation doing the round this summer, as the majority of newspaper inches were devoted to Kylian Mbappe and his potential exit from AS Monaco.
onaco have already lost some influential players in Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva and Tiemoue Bakayoko, and will be determined to keep hold of the in-demand talented youngster, along with Fabinho and Thomas Lemar.
Obviously, money talks and another staggering fee could see Mbappe make an exit with some outlets already claiming that he’s decided his future lies elsewhere.
Real Madrid seem to be the only team seriously interested in paying an eye-watering fee to sign Mbappe, but the pursuit has certainly slowed down in recent weeks – but there seem to be a couple of good reasons why that has been the case.
According to Marca, the money is a stumbling block as Monaco are trying to squeeze more out of the Santiago Bernabeu side after seeing how much their French rivals have spent on Neymar.
Madrid know they’ll have to add a few extra zero’s, but it’s being claimed that they’re willing to lower the initial fee and add other variables.
CONDITION
However, the main reason why progress hasn’t been made on this deal boils down to Zinedine Zidane, and the idea he has for the strikers at the club.
Despite Alvaro Morata leaving the club last month to join Chelsea, the Frenchman reportedly told Florentino Perez that doesn’t want four attackers in Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale.
They all won’t get the playing time they want which can lead to a negative atmosphere in the camp – and they’ll want to avoid another James Rodriguez situation – so one player will have to be the sacrificial lamb in this scenario.
Zidane has one condition, and he will only approve the Mbappe signing if a member of the infamous BBC goes, and Bale is expected to be the unfortunate star who leaves as his injury problems haven’t helped his cause in nailing down his place in the starting XI.
While Bale has always reiterated that he’s happy in Madrid and wants to remain a Los Blancos player, he may not get the final say if his current side wants to make a massive splash of their own in the transfer window and sign Mbappe.