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By Martin Graham | 11th Mar 2023
As the calls to Kylian Mbappe urging him to cut ties with Paris Saint-Germain for the sake of winning the UEFA Champions League intensify, Florent Malouda has asked his former club Chelsea to make a move for the Frenchman.
Mbappe’s decision to remain at the French capital is still being frowned upon by all and sundry, especially when he was primed to be the next king of Real Madrid after Cristiano Ronaldo.
While he has enjoyed the financial benefits of his decision greatly – he is the second highest paid footballer in the world and was first until Ronaldo moved to Saudi Arabia last December – it has been run of the mill for the incredibly talented and prolific 24-year-old.
The French Ligue 1 is a league brimming with talents but Mbappe has shone the brightest. He continues to shine week in, week out and is now the outright top scorer in PSG history.
It is a record he will extend significantly in the coming years and it is one he will probably hold for as long as possible, even after he retires from the sport. Those records, however, have not helped him to bring home Old Big Ears to the Parc De Princes.
His teammates have been seen as the reason for his failures on the continental stage and calls for him to cut short his contract with PSG have, once again, begun.
A bidding war, just as there was in the summer of 2022, is expected and Malouda has urged Chelsea to make a move for the Frenchman.
“I’d like to see Chelsea sign Kylian Mbappe,” the former French international said. “I think we should go for top players like Mbappe. Especially when I see the amount we spend on others. It depends on his will to come to the club, but we should go for top players like him and build a team around him.
“That would be my dream, to build a team around him with young players around him. He’s won a lot of trophies and he’s hungry for more, so this is the type of player Chelsea should look for.
“Would Mbappe be tempted by Chelsea? Anything is possible! To tempt a player like Mbappe, it’s about building a relationship. It’s about more than just preparing a big-money offer. Players are sensitive and they know a lot about football, so clubs need to develop relationships with football and if you do that, I think you can get players like Mbappe.”
Real Madrid have not closed the door to the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner and 2022 FIFA World Cup runner-up. Liverpool are also expected to make a bid for him.
The Blues are already planning to bid for Neymar from PSG and reuniting both Neymar and Mbappe is a prospect that the team could look into.
However, the former AS Monaco man will join up with a squad that has almost 17 first team attackers, should he find himself being a Chelsea player at the start of the 2023/24 season.
Martin Graham is an MFF sports writer
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