Could Kylian Mbappe be convinced to join Al Hilal?

We have to start with Kylian Mbappe and that world record bid from the Saudi Pro League side, Al-Hilal. As you can see, the guys are here. I'm going to start with you, Chief Reporter, Kaveh Solokol. Astronomical sums, the sort of sums we'd play a Chief Reporter. Break them down for us. Well, on Friday night, that's Kylian Mbappe had been put up for sale by PSG because he's refusing to extend his contract. He's been dropped from their pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea. We told you on Saturday that Al-Hilal were one of the clubs who wanted to sign him. And this morning it emerged that Al-Hilal had actually made a world record bid for Mbappe. The bid officially went in on Saturday from Riyadh. It was sent to PSG and it made clear that the bid was for 300 million euros for the transfer of the player, Kylian Mbappe. And it was subject to working out a payment schedule. And there were also four conditions attached, but they were pretty standard conditions for official offer letters. Things like an agreement had to be reached and a contract signed between Al-Hilal and PSG. Also, an employment contract had to be signed between Al-Hilal and Kylian Mbappe. Also, he needed to pass a medical and that transfer had to be registered with FIFA before the Saudi Arabian transfer window closed. Now the response from PSG to this offer has been we will give Al-Hilal permission to speak to Kylian Mbappe. I think technically they cannot say that they're accepting the bid unless Kylian Mbappe also accepts the bid as well. But in layman's terms, if they're giving their best player, the best player in the world, permission to speak to another club, you and I, if we were sitting in a bar, would say that they've accepted the bid. But technically that has not happened yet. Right Carvey, so PSG have said Al-Hilal, you can speak to Mbappe. Will Mbappe speak to Al-Hilal? That's the sort of billion pound question. At the moment there's no indication that Kylian Mbappe wants to go to Saudi Arabia. He feels that his future is in Europe. He feels that his future is at Real Madrid and he wants to move to Real Madrid on a free transfer next summer. But I would never say never because of the astronomical amounts of money we're talking about. We're talking about Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. I don't know much about golf but I think they've effectively just bought golf. They offered Lionel Messi a couple of weeks ago. The same club, Al-Hilal, offered him something like 350 million pounds a year to move to Saudi Arabia. There's been reports in the US that they're willing to offer Kylian Mbappe 700 million euros to play for them for just one season. So you and I can sit here and say he's not interested. He's not going to talk to them. But if now that Al-Hilal have permission they speak to Kylian Mbappe's representatives and they say we're offering you this much money 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 million euros tax-free a year. Are you honestly saying to me that he's going to say no, no, no. I grew up a Real Madrid supporter. I had a poster of Zinedine Zidane on my bedroom wall. Real Madrid are the only club for me. I'm not interested in 700 million euros. I think knowing footballers, as we all know footballers and human beings, there are not many people in the world who would say no to that kind of money or wouldn't be interested in talking about that kind of money if it was on offer. Tim Thornton, our senior reporter, I want to bring you in. Carvey called Mbappe the best player in the world. He's clearly never seen Jack Grealish. But if Mbappe were to go, what sort of blow would that be to European football? It would be a huge blow. I sat alongside Carvey at the World Cup final just over seven months ago. He scored a hat-trick in that tournament. The bigger the games got, the better he got, the golden boot winner. So purely from a football point of view, it doesn't really make sense for him. He's 24. The best years of football ahead of him. If he wants to have the same kind of legacy that Messi and Ronaldo will have, then he needs to perform at the very highest level. But he does need to perform at the highest level and also throw into the mix that of course it's the Euros next summer. He was one of the stars at the World Cup. If he wants to be one of the stars at the Euros as well, he needs to be playing at the very highest level. He needs to be match fit so he can't afford to be sat on the bench for a full season at PSG. So his next move is crucial for him. But if he's not playing in Europe, then we lost Ronaldo last year, Messi this summer and potentially now Mbappe. One thing I would say is about the actual contract that PSG offered Mbappe in the first place. So last summer they said, right, it's a three-year contract. That's how it was advertised. There was a shirt shot with Kylian Mbappe with 2025 on the back. But it was really a two-year contract plus a year's option. And the year's option was down to the player, not the club. So the player decides if they want to extend for a further year. Now PSG probably trusted Mbappe to exercise that one-year option. But after one year of that so-called three-year contract, which is a really two-year contract, we're in that position we were before where he's got one year left on his deal. And he says, well, actually, I'm not going to exercise that option. But is he going to sit not playing football for a year, Darmesh? Like, really? We might not have a choice. If PSG can't sell him, and the problem that they've got now is because they say they are going to sell him, all of the price tags that we're If you're a buying club, why would you pay that much? Why would you pay that much? This is good for them, the fact that Al Hilal have, well, PSG would accept £259 million. But European clubs, they're not going to go anywhere near that kind of figure. But it's good for PSG that, look, we're getting an offer for this. Who else is going to come in for him? So I just think this time when the contract was made, there was almost a slight inevitability about it if Mbappe decided, actually, I'm not going to sign that extension to my contract. And that's where we are now. Darmesh says there's no chance that European clubs can go anywhere near this, Carvey. But any scenario at all that Mbappe could end up in the Premier League? There is a scenario that that could happen. If you're saying to me, will he be playing in the No, I don't think that's going to happen. But there is a scenario. And the scenario is a scenario that PSG can see. Because PSG have said that just in the past 48 hours, a hyper, hyper competitive market has been created for the services of Kylian Mbappe. They say they've had huge interest for the player. They say that the bid from Al Hilal is not the only offer they've received. They've received other offers and they've received expressions of interest from other clubs who are formulating offers for the player. How could I see him ending up in the Premier League? I think if Kylian Mbappe says absolutely no to Saudi Arabia and says I'm not going to Saudi Arabia, and if PSG stick to their position that he's not going to play for them again, that he's going to sit out next season, then you will have a situation where the clock is ticking and we could get to deadline day and PSG would be in a position where they would say, you know what, we're going to send this guy out on loan, because if we send him out on loan, at least we get a loan fee and we get a club to pay his wages and therefore he's out of the way. Now, they would prefer to do that with a club that's not in the Champions League. So maybe someone like Chelsea would come into play. Maybe someone like Tottenham would come into play because he would need to be playing to stay fit for the Euros next summer. So in that situation, potentially, it could happen. That's what PSG are feeling. If you're asking me, is there a Premier League club who can go head-to-head with Al-Hilal and offer the kind of transfer fee or the kind of wages that are offered in Saudi Arabia? Absolutely not. No way. That is a total impossibility. And also, Kylian Mbappe doesn't want to come to the Premier League. Kylian Mbappe wants to go to Real Madrid. And if he digs his heels in and stays where he is, he picks up more than £100 million over the next 12 months from PSG in wages and loyalty bonuses. And then next summer, he signs for Real Madrid and he picks up £160 million signing on fee and massive, massive wages by European standards because he's a free agent. So Real Madrid would pay him more.