Serie A Rumor: Juventus Looks To Acquire Paris-St.Germain Star In Summer Transfer Window
Juventus may have just officially joined the Kylian Mbappe Sweepstakes. The defending Italian Serie A champion, through club president Andrea Agnelli, is rumored to have expressed its intent on acquiring the French striker from Paris-St. Germain in the transfer window next summer.
"Buying Kylian Mbappé, as Michel Platini (French football legend and former president of the Union of European Football Associations) suggested in [an] interview... is not a heresy," said Marina Salvetti of Tuttosport.
Plucking Mbappe from the French Ligue 1 champ is easier said than done, though.
"The French striker has a cost, between 180 million (the transfer fee PSG has paid for him to leave Monaco) and 380 million Euros," added Salvetti. TeamTalk reported that PSG set Mbappe's transfer fee at 342 million Euros.
Well, the transfer fee bidding may not be a problem for Juve as the team exerted a lot of financial muscles to acquire Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, which interestingly enough is the frontrunner to land Mbappe next offseason.
But here's the bigger problem according to Salvetti: "Paradoxically, however, the problem is not of an economic nature... rather the obstacle to overcome could be the president of PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaifi."
She further noted, "Convincing the Qatari sheik to cede the French ace is a real undertaking for the simple reason that the entrepreneur does not need money. With a family fortune estimated at $60 billion (approximately 54 billion euros), Nasser Al-Khelaifi is president of the Qatar Sports Investments fund, which heads the sovereign fund Qatar Investment Authority, owner of the PSG and shares, among others, Disney, Volkswagen, Siemens, Virgin, Barclays, Sainsbury's, Harrods, The Shard, Heathrow Airport and Royal Dutch Shell. The sheik is so rich, and the Parisian club enjoys huge sponsorships, which must not give up some of its champions to buy more."
After all, PSG gave up 222 million Euros just to land Neymar from Barcelona aside from the 180 million Euros it shelled out just to give Mbappe a permanent deal with the club in 2017 following an impressive spell on loan from Monaco.
However, Al-Khelaifi may need to part ways with Mbappe as the latter's mother, as per a report from Juan Linares of Sport, said that her son will not renew his contract with PSG. Kylian Mbappe still has three years left in his contract.
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