Kylian Mbappe expected to decline 2025 player option

Kylian Mbappe is already the face of PSG but the Parisian organization is determined to turn the French world champion into an even more prominant figure of Paris Saint-Germain going forward. Turns out Mbappe's mindset might not entirely align with that of his current club.

In its edition from Wednesday, May 24th, L'Equipe put Mbappe on the front page mentioning his contract at PSG, which runs out in June 2024. Of course, you might have read contradictory reports or just seen pictures like the one headlining this story in which Mbappe actually posed with a "2025" emblazoned in a PSG jersey.

The truth is that while Mbappe's contract with PSG really, on paper, lasts until June 2025, that's entirely up in the air and the only "guaranteed" years of partnership between both parties were this and the next one.

Mbappe needs to unilaterally activate a player option in order for PSG to retain him for the full 2024/25 season, which means Mbappe might be a free agent in 12 months. That option needs to be accepted or declined this summer, though, and everything points toward Mbappe declining it as things stand.

L'Equipe reported on Wednesday, May 24th, that Mbappe has "until July 31st, 2023, to decide whether or not to activate this option," and in the case he does so then he will automatically extend his contract with PSG until the end of June 2025. With just over two months from the deadline, though, L'Equipe revealed that it is expected Mbappe will "decide to enter his last year of the contract without using this option."

PSG still have the desire to keep Mbappe in tow and as the torchbearer of the Parisian project going forward, though. Even if Kylian Mbappe declines the option, the club will not "question his ideas and actions," and will instead wait and try to convince Mbappe to sign an extension by the end of next season.

Relations between the player and the club have calmed down lately and a departure from the Frenchman will not be in the news this summer even if that might mean losing him for nothing in 2024.

PSG and the board of the Parisian club are determined to build the future team around the former AS Monaco player. That past is a key to the future of the relationship between PSG and Mbappe, precisely because of the relationship between Mbappe and also-former Monaco employee and current PSG sporting advisor Luis Campos.

It is believed that the presence of Luis Campos in Paris as a member of the PSG staff is highly valued by Mbappe and could impact the player's decision to extend his contract with Paris Saint-Germain.

The Portuguese trustee retains a special bond with the top scorer in Ligue 1, although that's far from the ultimate factor that will lead to Mbappe's extension, of course, with sporting matters and titles much more important in the mind of the world champion.

For now, Mbappe will lift a historic 11th Ligue 1 title this or next weekend, and then he will also (most probably) earn his fifth-ever top-goalscorer award in the French championship becoming the greatest striker in the history of the competition. After that, though, nothing is clear on the PSG-Mbappe horizon.