Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal have made a world-record £259 million bid for Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe.
Widespread media reports on Monday said a €300m (£259m) offer has been submitted by the Saudi Pro League side.
The current world transfer record is the €222m (£200m) PSG paid to sign Neymar from Barcelona in August 2017.
Al Hilal's bid comes amid tensions in Paris over Mbappe’s future.
The World Cup-winning forward was excluded from PSG’s pre-season tour of Asia after speculation that he will not sign a new contract and instead intends to join Real Madrid as a free agent next summer.
The free-spending of Saudi Pro League clubs has been a major talking point this summer, with the likes of Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Ruben Neves, Edouard Mendy, Marcelo Brozovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Kalidou Koulibaly joining Cristiano Ronaldo in the Middle East.
But the capture of Mbappe would be by far the most significant deal yet, with the 24-year-old in the prime of his career and widely regarded as one of the best players in the world.
Mbappe’s future at PSG has been cast in doubt as he enters the final year of his lucrative contract in the French capital.
The striker has long been linked with Real Madrid and his desire to join the Spanish giants has caused a rift with his current employers, who believe he has already agreed to join Real for free in the summer of 2024.
PSG are desperate to avoid losing Mbappe for nothing and have put him up for sale, wanting to recoup the costs of around £150m they spent to bring him in permanently from Monaco in 2018.
Mbappe was left out of PSG’s tour to Japan and South Korea this week, a move that caused the French players’ union to accuse the club of “moral harassment.”
Real Madrid aren’t alone in being interested in a move for the superstar as top Premier League sides are also said to be in the mix.
But the France international is understood to be willing to spend the 2023/24 season on the sidelines and frozen out of the squad if that’s what it takes to get his move to Madrid.
Mbappe reportedly earns around £2m per week at PSG, so keeping him on the sidelines would be a financial disaster for the French side.
He is PSG's all-time top scorer and a five-time Ligue 1 winner in the capital.
Mbappe has also won three Coupe de France titles and five golden boots, as well as helping the club reach its first Champions League final in 2019/20, which they lost to Bayern Munich.
His greatest success came at international level, winning the 2018 World Cup with France.
The striker was agonisingly close to defending that crown in Qatar in December, when he scored a hat-trick in a thrilling final against Argentina that Les Bleus lost on penalties.
Source: eurosport.com
