Get Guardian on GoogleFrench World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe brushed aside questions about his future at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday when he said “it’s not the time to make waves” over contract talks.
The 21-year-old striker, long linked with a move to Real Madrid, insisted his mind was only on helping PSG defend their Ligue 1 title and chase an elusive Champions League triumph.
“For now, I am ready to play football,” Mbappe said after scoring in his team’s 6-1 rout of St Etienne in the French League Cup quarter-finals.
“It is January, it’s the start of the final sprint where there are titles to play for. Therefore it’s not the moment to make waves.”
Mbappe has a deal at PSG which runs until 2022.
Recruited in the summer of 2017 for 180 million euros ($202 million) from Monaco, Mbappe is now believed to be worth 265 million euros, according to the Swiss-based International Centre for Sports Studies.
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“The club is calm and serene, everyone is pulling in the same direction, so talking about things that are off the pitch is not very realistic and not very beneficial for the team,” added Mbappe who now has 19 goals for the season.
“I am a footballer, not an accountant. I play, I do my job. I try to help my team.
“If I am the most expensive player in the world, everything is fine.”
In December, Real Madrid coach, and fellow Frenchman, Zinedine Zidane remarked that Mbappe had always said it was his dream to play for the Spanish side.
Liverpool, too, have been linked with Mbappe.
Manager Jurgen Klopp had been keen to sign the player in 2017, meeting him and his entourage before the switch to PSG from Monaco was completed.
If PSG were to reluctantly allow Mbappe to leave, they are believed to want more than the record fee of $260 million they paid Barcelona for Neymar in 2017.
