Paris Saint-Germain’s latest Champions League failure could spark major departures.
For the second straight year, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé have seen their hopes of challenging for Europe’s top club title dashed – and this latest continental disappointment is likely to boost Real Madrid’s chances of securing the services of either one or both of the stars.
Madrid pursued Neymar without success last year, and two summers ago offered Monaco as much as 235m euros in their attempts to sign Mbappé, 20, who finally opted for PSG.
Los Blancos are now planning a major overhaul at the end of the season, and both players [Neymar and Mbappe] are at the top of club president Florentino Pérez’s list of candidates to lead the LaLiga giants’ revamped side.
Neymar and Mbappé arrived at PSG in 2017 with the clear objective of helping the Ligue 1 club to their first ever Champions League triumph. The Parisians forked out a world-record 222m euros to buy the Brazilian from Barcelona, and paid a further 180m euros to snare the Frenchman, in a 400m-euro investment that has failed to steer the side beyond the competition’s last-16 stage.
With chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi’s project once again coming up short, it is thought PSG could well consider taking its first-team strategy in a new direction.
Both stars are open to future Madrid moves
In recent days, Neymar has openly flirted with Madrid, refusing to rule out a future move to the Bernabéu, and PSG’s Champions League exit to Manchester United might just make that happen sooner rather than later. “Real Madrid are one of the biggest clubs in the world and any player would want to play there,” he said ahead of his side’s European elimination. “I’m happy in Paris, I’m really good, but nobody knows the future.”
Meanwhile, pulling on the white shirt one day is a dream of Mbappé’s. Wednesday’s defeat could see that become a reality ahead of schedule.
