Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal has tabled a world record-breaking bid of £259m to secure the services of Kylian Mbappe, the Paris St-Germain forward and captain of the French national team.

Mbappe, 24, has one year remaining on his contract with PSG but has declined to sign an extension, leading to uncertainty about his future with the French champions. Notably, he was not included in the squad for their pre-season tour to Japan.

Given his contract situation, PSG is keen to sell Mbappe now rather than risk losing him for free next summer. The current record for the most expensive player transfer stands at £200m, set when Neymar moved from Barcelona to PSG in 2017.

If the deal with Al-Hilal goes through, it would mark the second time that Mbappe commands one of the three highest transfer fees paid for a player. In 2017, PSG acquired him from Monaco for £166m. Several other top clubs, including Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham, Inter Milan, and Barcelona, have also expressed an interest in signing Mbappe. The player himself has previously stated his intention to leave PSG for free at the end of the upcoming season, with Real Madrid being his preferred destination.

PSG is reportedly open to the possibility of allowing Mbappe to leave on loan this summer, allowing him to finish his contract elsewhere while generating a loan fee for the club. This would potentially enable him to join Real Madrid on a free transfer next year. However, PSG Chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi has taken a firm stance on the matter, and it has been suggested that Mbappe could be left out of the squad for an entire year if he does not resolve the current deadlock. Such a scenario could negatively impact his chances of representing France at Euro 2024.

Al-Hilal, one of the clubs owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, has been active in the transfer market this summer, already securing Ruben Neves from Wolves and Kalidou Koulibaly from Chelsea. Photo by Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.