♦ Luis Enrique asked about Kylian Mbappe at PSG press conference
♦ French forward left club to join Real Madrid during the summer
♦ Coach not interested in talking about the player any longer
Luis Enrique isn’t interested in talking about Kylian Mbappe / Richard Heathcote/GettyImages
Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique hit out at a journalist for asking about Kylian Mbappe, who left the French club at the end of last season to join Real Madrid on a free transfer.
Mbappe scored on an otherwise relatively quiet Madrid debut on Wednesday night, contributing to the victory over Atalanta as his new team lifted the UEFA Super Cup.
As Enrique faced the media ahead of PSG’s Ligue 1 opener against Le Havre on Friday night, a Spanish reporter in the press pack asked about Mbappe’s absence moving forward.
“How boring these Spaniards are,” was Enrique’s blunt response.
“I did not think that people would talk to me about Kylian again. I have had no problem with Kylian, I wish him and his brother Ethan the best. But I also hope that Madrid lose against us.”
Mbappe scored on his Real Madrid debut / Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/GettyImages
Having signed a new two-year deal with PSG in 2022 and rejecting the advances of Madrid at that stage in the process, Mbappe ran down his contract and became a free agent at the end of June. He had already communicated to PSG that he didn’t intend to extend again after that and stayed true to his word, formally joining Madrid without a transfer fee in July.
PSG accepted a world record €300m offer from Al Hilal in 2023, which would have banked them serious cash for a player with only a year left on his contract. But Mbappe, already seemingly set on Madrid and no one else, refused to even meet with the Saudi Pro League club. It was rumoured at the time that the Frenchman had turned down a contract worth €1bn.
Mbappe will make his La Liga debut when Madrid travel to Mallorca on Sunday. Even without him, PSG will consider themselves heavy favourites to win Ligue 1 again.