Paris Saint-Germain avoided facing the reality of dropping to the UEFA Europa League after Kylian Mbappé scored a penalty kick in stoppage time in the 1-1 draw against Newcastle United on Tuesday night at the Parc des Princes.
Many will wonder, though, how the Mbappé story will fare if the capital city is left out of the UEFA Champions League knockout stages. The 24-year-old can discuss a pre-contract with any club after the January transfer window opens, as he will become a free agent in June of next year.
Journalist Loic Tanzi of L’Équipe discussed with talkSPORT the one factor that will keep the Frenchman at his home club.
“I believe he adores the club,” Tanzi stated to the English news organization. Because he is a young man from this area of Paris, he loves Paris Saint-German. I would absolutely [say] that he would leave at the end of the year if you asked me that question in the summer.
And now that I think about it, I’m not so sure because I believe that winning the Champions League in Paris is more significant for him than, say, winning the Champions League in Madrid. Since we know Liverpool wants him too, I believe winning one Champions League here is more significant than winning two or three in Madrid or Liverpool, for example.
Still, Mbappé and company are in charge of their fate going into the last day of the Champions League group stage. All PSG has to do is defeat Borussia Dortmund away from home. The Ligue 1 team can advance in a few different ways, but winning is the most direct route.
Even so, it will be difficult given that the French powerhouses have lost to AC Milan and Newcastle in their two road losses thus far in this group stage. It will be intriguing to watch if Mbappé can put on a standout performance in spite of any outside interference he may experience in the near future.
