PARIS
\nAs Paris Saint-Germain prepare to face Real Madrid in the Champions League, the French club hope a victory in the tie could yet help convince Kylian Mbappe to stay rather than move to the Spanish capital.
\nThe clock continues to tick down on the World Cup-winning striker\u2019s contract in Paris which expires in June, five years after he joined his hometown team from Monaco in a 180 million-euro ($204m) deal. It is understood PSG turned down an equivalent offer from Real last August to keep Mbappe for at least one more season and team him up in attack with Lionel Messi and Neymar.
\nThat seemed to prove money is no object for the Qatar-owned club, but it appears that all the money in the world may not be enough to convince Mbappe, now 23, to stay at the Parc des Princes.
\nReal\u2019s pursuit of the France star goes back to when he was a young teenager and they invited him and his parents to take in a game at the Santiago Bernabeu, having Zinedine Zidane meet him at their training ground.
\nHe opted to sign for Monaco then, and he chose PSG in 2017 despite again being linked with Real, yet an eventual move to Madrid has always seemed inevitable.
\nMbappe has been the top scorer in Ligue 1 in the last three seasons and despite the arrival of Messi, he has remained PSG\u2019s most decisive player by a distance in this campaign.
\nOn Friday, he scored the winner against Rennes to move on to 21 goals for the season, more than Messi, Neymar, Angel Di Maria and Mauro Icardi put together.
\n\u201cHe is already one of the greatest players in PSG\u2019s history,\u201d captain Marquinhos told broadcaster TF1. When asked if he had tried to convince Mbappe to stay, he added: \u201cOf course.\u201d
\nIn Paris, they are clinging to the hope Mbappe could change his mind if Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s team beat Madrid in their Champions League last-16 tie, with the first leg at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday to be followed by the return in Spain on March 9.
\n\u201cI have not made my decision,\u201d Mbappe told Amazon Prime last week.
\n\u201cThe fact we are playing against Real Madrid changes a lot of things.
\n\u201cEven though I am free to do so, I am not going to go and talk to our opponents. I am focused on beating Real Madrid and then we will see.\u201d
\nMbappe has won every domestic honour with PSG several times over but has not been able to win the Champions League, coming closest in 2020 when they lost the final to Bayern Munich.
\nPochettino, though, played down the significance of the clash with Real in terms of Mbappe\u2019s career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS As Paris Saint-Germain prepare to face Real Madrid in the Champions League, the French club hope a victory in the tie could yet help convince Kylian Mbappe to stay rather than move to the Spanish capital. The clock continues to tick down on the World Cup-winning striker\u2019s contract in Paris which expires in June, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-244564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n