Real Madrid budgets £240m for ‘Operation Mbappe’
Real Madrid have made Kylian Mbappe their No 1 target this summer and are plotting a staggering £240million bid for the Frenchman.
Zinedine Zidane has made the Paris Saint-Germain forward his main target as he begins his overhaul of the squad after returning to the Bernabeu for a second spell as manager.
Despite Zidane’s admiration for Mbappe, it had been thought that any deal to get him out of the French capital was impossible but Real are now said to be confident that they can get a deal done.
France Football, who have both Mbappe and Zidane on their front cover with the headline ‘Operation Mbappe’, are reporting that the manager will have significant funds to strengthen his squad.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has guaranteed Zidane a minimum of €500m (£430m) to splash out on first-team personnel.Of that figure, €400m (£340m) is already available while the remaining €100m (£90m) will come from the sale of Gareth Bale ‘to a Premier League club’.
Real are desperate to make radical changes to their forward line in the next transfer window. A failure to replace Cristiano Ronaldo sufficiently last summer has cost them in La Liga and the Champions League this campaign.
PSG will be extremely reluctant to sell their crown jewel though and the scenario in which he tries to force a move because he is impatient to win the Champions League, still seems some way away.
Mbappe, who won the World Cup with France last summer, has thrived in Paris since arriving from Monaco in the summer of 2017.
The 20-year-old is PSG’s top scorer this term with 31 goals in 35 appearances across all competitions.
The Spanish giants have been linked to several players in recent weeks as they look to catch up with Barcelona domestically and the rest of Europe’s elite in the Champions League.
Liverpool have forcefully declined any approach for their winger Sadio Mane, according to Monday’s edition of Marca.
The interest in the 26-year-old has grown amid his current run of form and his record of 53 goals and 21 assists in 111 matches for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Zidane is also said to be keen on Chelsea’s Eden Hazard. The Belgian has been a long-term target for Real and, as he prepares to enter the final year of his contract at Stamford Bridge, this could be the summer he finally leaves.