Before the match against Toulouse on Sunday, the PSG president asked his player for an explanation, as he had deliberately omitted to thank him in the video announcing his departure from PSG. The discussion quickly turned sour.
This time, they seem irreconcilable. Between Kylian Mbappé and Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the separation turned into a clash on Sunday evening before the match against Toulouse. The situation between the two had been increasingly tense, and it is not surprising that it eventually exploded.
Ever since the star informed his president of his decision to leave Paris this summer, the two men had hardly spoken to each other. Their frosty relationship came to light last Friday when, in the video announcing his departure, the captain of the French national team thanked a multitude of people (coaches, sporting directors, stewards, supporters) without a single word for his president or the Emir of Qatar.
This was a slight to Nasser Al-Khelaifi who had offered him the most lucrative contract in the history of football in 2022. This conflict escalated further on Sunday, according to Le Parisien.
Eager for clarification on why he was not mentioned in the video, the president insisted on arranging a meeting. It finally took place at the Parc des Princes, just over an hour before the match against Toulouse. The two isolated themselves in a room, away from prying eyes and ears. The tone escalated quickly. The explanation quickly turned into a clash.
“The walls shook,” reported a witness of the scene. The exchange resulted in a delay to the start of the warm-up, with players entering the field four minutes later than usual. Nevertheless, Mbappé found time to thank representatives of the CUP who had created a large tifo in his image in the Auteuil curve. That was the only tribute of the evening for the club’s all-time top scorer.
During the Hexagoal trophy presentation, the club had nothing prepared, feeling caught off guard by the official announcement of Mbappé’s departure, who had chosen not to inform his directors.
In a statement sent to several media outlets Monday evening, PSG denied the existence of a clash between the two men, while confirming that a meeting did indeed take place before the start of the match to “finalize the terms of departure at the end of the season.”
In recent weeks, the club had let it be known that discussions were to take place to find common ground on the terms of separation in addition to the agreement reached last August. But according to Le Parisien, there had been no discussions on this topic in recent weeks.
