PSG may bench Mbappe as club president snubs meeting with the French striker

Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi reportedly decided against holding a one-to-one conversation with Kylian Mbappe during a visit to the Parisiens' training ground.

The France international recently left PSG shocked and disappointed when he informed them that he had no intention of taking up the 12-month extension option in his contract.

As a result, Mbappe will be free to leave the club for nothing at the end of the 2023-24 season, although Al-Khelaifi has already stated that such a scenario will not be allowed to happen.

Despite his stance, Mbappe has affirmed that he plans to continue at PSG for the upcoming campaign and will only make a final decision on his future when he is down to the final few weeks of his contract.

In contrast, PSG are desperate to get rid of the attacker if he refuses to commit his future to the club, and Al-Khelaifi was initially expected to hold showdown talks with the 24-year-old at Campus PSG o.

However, Sky Sports News reports that the pair did not speak face-to-face, but Al-Khelaifi has still issued Mbappe with a contract ultimatum, and the France international has until the end of the month to extend his contract or be sold in August.

Rather than engage in a personal conversation with Mbappe, Al-Khelaifi instead addressed the whole group and also took a moment to welcome their six new signings in Milan Skriniar, Marco Asensio, Manuel Ugarte, Lucas Hernandez, Kang-in Lee, and Cher Ndour.

During a 15-minute speech, Al-Khelaifi warned all players that no one - not even the president - is bigger than the club, and players that do not want to play for the badge can walk out of the door.

The 49-year-old also affirmed that PSG has "no excuse" for not succeeding this season, as Enrique aims to end the Ligue 1 champions' spate of failures in the Champions League. While PSG will do their utmost to offload Mbappe if he does not have a change of heart, the ex-Monaco man could be short of offers this summer, as only a handful of clubs could meet PSG's €200m (£173.5m) asking price.

Meanwhile, it appears PSG has reached the point of having to threaten Mbappe with action in order to force the situation.

The Athletic reports that PSG would be willing to bench Mbappe for the whole season and leave him without football if he will not co-operate with their wishes. This naturally would be a drastic measure, but PSG are trying any way to force Mbappe into either a renewal or a move.

How likely this is, remains to be seen. It would show remarkable backbone not to use arguably the most valuable footballer in the world for an entire season, but also be an extremely counter-productive use of resources. If, as is reported, PSG have intimated that to Mbappe, then they risk proving losing even more credit should they backtrack.

Little has been said of new manager Luis Enrique in this equation, but the Asturian has a mind of his own and seems unlikely to be on board not only with the idea but also at losing one of his best assets with no replacement.