“Our transfer window is closed,” declared Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti on Thursday. “I’m ruling out any signing,” added the Italian manager in a press conference, transcribed by L’Équipe.
The Real Madrid manager’s declaration looks to have put an end to speculation of Kylian Mbappé (24) making the move to the Bernabeu this summer. Ultimately, joining the La Liga side was never Mbappé’s intention this summer, despite his exile from the first team set-up. The France captain was left out of Paris Saint-Germain’s tour of Japan and South Korea, before missing the first game of the Ligue 1 season. Throughout his time training with the “undesirables” at the club, Mbappé maintained his position that he wouldn’t be forced out of the club this summer, despite PSG’s wishes to garner a fee for Mbappé rather than lose him on a free in the summer of 2024. Internal sources at the club believe that the AS Monaco academy product has an agreement in place to join Real Madrid in the summer of 2024.
However, he won’t be joining Los Blancos this summer. Mbappé has since been reintegrated back into the first-team setup at PSG, and he scored Les Parisiens’ first goal of the Ligue 1 season against Toulouse FC last weekend. However, whilst Mbappé won’t join Real Madrid this summer, at least according to Ancelotti, with no signs of a new contract agreement forthcoming, a move next summer currently looks like an inevitability.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
