Saudi club owned by Newcastle United’s PIF submit stunning world-record Kylian Mbappe bid

Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal have submitted a world-record £259million bid to sign Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain.

The French giants want to offload Mbappe this summer following a row over his contract. Mbappe has one year remaining on his current deal and is unwilling to commit to a further year with PSG believing he has already agreed to join Real Madrid on a free transfer next summer.

Mbappe was left out of PSG’s pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea. It’s reported that the Ligue 1 champions are willing to bench him this season if he does not secure a move to another club.

“My position is very clear,” said PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. “I don’t want to repeat it every time. If Kylian wants to stay, we want him to stay, but he needs to sign a new contract.

“We don’t want to lose the best player in the world for free, we can’t do that. This is a French club. He said he would never leave for free. If he changes his mind today, it’s not my fault. We don’t want to lose the best player in the world for free, that’s very clear.”

Al Hilal have signalled their intent to sign the 24-year-old by tabling a world-record bid, according to various reports. A wage package is rumoured to be £11m-per-week.

The emergence of the Saudi Pro League has sent shockwaves across Europe. Al-Hilal are one of four teams Saudi teams, including Al Ahli, Al Ittihad and Al Nassr, 75 per-cent owned by the Public Investment Fund, who are Newcastle United’s majority owners.

Since Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival in January, the likes of Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad), Roberto Firmino (Al Ahli), N’Golo Kante (Al Ittihad), Edouard Mendy (Al Ahli) and Marcelo Brozovic (Al Nassr) have moved to the Middle East.

Should Mbappe join Al Hilal, he’d become teammates with Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Kalidou Koulibaly, while talks are also ongoing with Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic and Zenit Saint Petersburg forward Malcolm.