French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that he hoped Spanish club Real Madrid would let FIFA World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe play in this year's Paris Olympic Games.
Mbappe, 25, is the French national team captain and arguably the best forward player of his generation. Mbappe confirmed late on Friday that he would leave Paris St Germain (PSG) at the end of the season and he has been strongly linked with a move to Spanish La Liga side Real Madrid.
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It is against this backdrop that the French President made his comments mentioning the record 14-time UEFA Champions League winning club.
"I have no particular comment to make other than the fact that I am counting upon Real Madrid to free up Kylian for the Olympic Games so he can play with the French team," Macron said in a video posted on his X account.
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Earlier in March, Mbappe had announced that he wanted to represent France at the Olympics. However, the superstar added that "it doesn't depend on me."
The Kylian Mbappe transfer saga
Mbappe joined PSG ranks from Monaco —- initially on loan in 2017 — for 180 million euros (now $199 million). The France star is PSG's all-time leading scorer with 233 goals and has already netted some 46 goals for Les Bleus.
But it has been frustrating at times for Mbappe at PSG, which failed to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League in the last two seasons and has scraped through to the last 16 in second place this season.
Earlier, PSG rejected an offer of 180 million euros for Mbappe in 2021 and Real missed out a year later when Mbappe — amid frenzied speculation that the Los Blancos would finally get him to join — signed a new deal with PSG in May 2022.
