Mbappe ready to sit on the bench to run down contract

PSG star Kylian Mbappe is determined to play out the remainder of his contract at Paris St-Germain next season even if it leads to being benched by the French club, according to reports.

The Parisian superstar, 24, has been locked in a contract impasse with PSG this summer after revealing his plan to leave the Parc de Princes when his current deal expires next year.

Mbappe, who snubbed Real Madrid to pen a £650,000-per-week deal with the French giants last year, announced he will not trigger the one-year extension attached to his PSG contract.

In response, Parc de Princes chiefs told Mbappe that he must either agree to the extension or leave the club this summer, allowing PSG to collect a sizeable fee rather than lose him on a free transfer.

It is believed the France World Cup winner is determined to reject both options, even if it risks enduring a season on the sidelines.

 Former PSG star Adrien Rabiot was suspended by the club in 2019 for refusing to commit his future to the Parc des Princes.

'Mbappe will be at PSG next season,' RMC journalist Daniel Riolo, who was the first to report Lionel Messi's move to the Parc de Princes in 2021, has claimed.

'Even if they [the PSG board] see this through to the end and bench him, Mbappe stays at PSG. He is ready to accept this situation.

'How did we come to this contractual situation? What is the way out? There is none. The only way for PSG is to play tough and tell Mbappe that, because he didn't renew, he will be benched all season.'

PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi insisted it would be 'impossible' for Mbappe to leave for free at the unveiling of the club's new manager Luis Enrique.

He urged: 'We want him to stay but he can't leave for free. There was a verbal agreement and he had discussed it in an interview. And I was really shocked to learn that he had decided to leave for free.

'It's very disappointing because Mbappe is a fantastic boy, a real gentleman and to leave for free, weakening the biggest club in France, it's not him. When I heard the news, I was shocked and disappointed.

'It's for him to decide for himself next week, or at most in the next two weeks. And if he does not want to sign a new contract, the door is open.

'It's like that for him and everyone else. Nobody is bigger than the club, no player, not even me. It's very clear.'