French football star Kylian Mbappe says he will leave Paris Saint-Germain and end his “adventure” with the club in a few weeks.
“This is my last year at Paris Saint-Germain. … I will play my last match at the Parc des Princes this Sunday,” the 25-year old said in a video posted on the social media platform X on Friday.
PSG have already secured the Ligue 1 title, their 10th in the past 12 seasons, and will pick up the trophy after Sunday’s game against Toulouse, which will be their last of the campaign on home turf.
Luis Enrique’s side were eliminated from the Champions League this week by Borussia Dortmund in the semifinals, a 1-0 loss in Tuesday’s second leg at home sealing a surprise 2-0 aggregate defeat.
The defeat means Mbappe will not get the send-off he had hoped for in the Champions League final at Wembley on June 1 and will end his seven-year spell at PSG without ever having won Europe’s elite club competition.
Mbappe informed the Qatari-owned PSG privately in February of his intention to depart when his contract expires at the end of the current campaign.
The 25-year-old has not said publicly, though, where he will be going next, but it appears certain that he is bound for Real Madrid.
“It’s a lot of emotions, many years where I had the chance and the great honour to be a member of the biggest French club, one of the best in the world,” Mbappe said.
“It allowed me to arrive here, to have my first experience in a club with a lot of pressure, to grow as a player, of course, by being alongside some of the best in history, some of the greatest champions,” he added.
“It’s hard, and I never thought it would be this difficult to announce that, … but I think I needed this, a new challenge, after seven years.”
Mbappe did not find the net in either leg of the Dortmund tie but has scored 43 goals in all competitions this season with 26 of those coming in Ligue 1.
He will still hope to add to his club record tally of 255 goals for PSG and win another medal in the French Cup final. Mbappe has so far won six Ligue 1 titles, three French Cups and the now defunct League Cup twice in his seven years at his hometown team.
After Sunday’s game, PSG will complete their league campaign with away matches at Nice and at relegation-threatened Metz before Mbappe wraps up his career with the club in the French Cup final in Lille on May 25.
Source: Al Jazeera
BDST: 1151 HRS, MAY 11, 2024
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