A fascinating insight into the ongoing negotiations between La Liga giants Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappé has today been forthcoming online.
The info comes courtesy of Diario Sport, and surrounds the possibility of Mbappé playing for France at this summer’s Olympic Games.
Frontman Mbappé, for his part, has made clear on a number of occasions to date his hopes of representing Les Bleus at his home Olympics in Paris later this year.
Real Madrid, with whom he has been locked in negotiations for several months now, however, have long made clear their opposition to as much.
The 25-year-old is already in line to feature for France at the upcoming European Championships, meaning his presence at the Olympics just weeks later would afford Mbappé next to no time to recover before jumping straight into the new season with Los Blancos.
Not only that, but it would deal his new club a heavy financial blow, in reducing their exposure and monetary guarantees from the planned pre-season tour of the USA.
This comes with the Olympics overlapping with the tour, meaning Mbappé would not be present on the latter.
Nevertheless, the attacker himself remains unwavering in his stance that, should he have his way, he will indeed be at the disposal of France U23s boss Thierry Henry in Paris this July.
This message has been pushed repeatedly by Mbappé’s mother and his entourage, throughout their discussions over the terms of a contract with Real.
And so, the La Liga leaders, it is alleged, have conjured up a counter-proposal.
As per the aforementioned Sport, Florentino Pérez and co. have informed their incoming forward that he can travel to the Olympics under one condition – forfeiting a higher percentage of his image rights to the club.
The subject of image rights has proven the one major sticking point across contract talks between the two parties, with Mbappé refusing to fall in line with club policy of an even split between employer and employee.
Real had appeared ready to throw in the towel in their efforts to talk the 25-year-old and his team down, but are now readying a fresh approach to the situation:
‘The loss of income due to Kylian’s absence in the matches of the tour of the United States can be compensated with the increase in the percentage of image rights transferred to the white club in exchange for being allowed to participate in the Olympic Games,’ Sport conclude.
It now remains to be seen whether as much is agreeable to Mbappé and co…
Conor Laird | GSFN
