According to a report from France from Le Parisien, Kylian Mbappe is considering a new challenge and PSG will need €200million to consider a sale. Mbappe currently has just one year remaining on his contract and if he doesn’t extend soon, there will be a huge scramble for his signing in the summer.
Real Madrid are one of the clubs at the front of the queue for the race to secure one of the best young talents in world football. Mbappe is a Madrid fan and has made no secret of his admiration for them in the past. Madrid will be desperate to sign the players, but according to a report in AS, the club is suffering economically. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the club’s income has been cut by more than €200million, cutting their budgets by 25%.
The redevelopment of their stadium, Santiago Bernabéu will also impact the potential signing, as Madrid will not begin to repay the €575 million loan with which it has financed the new design until June 2023. From 2023 until 2049, the club will pay €29.5 million per year on their new state-of-the-art stadium.
So how does this all link to Arsenal? Well the report in AS goes on to draw up Madrid’s plan of action to land Mbappe. The club reportedly intends to generate between €100million and €120million in sales over the summer. The presents interesting opportunities for Arsenal, who currently have both Dani Ceballos and Martin Odegaard on loan in London.
AS directly lists Bale, Jovic, Ceballos, Marcelo, Isco and Mariano Diaz as players Madrid are looking to sell. Arsenal could take this opportunity for a cut-price move for Ceballos, who has shown potential and is still young at 24. Recent reports suggest the club want to sign the Spaniard permanently.
Whilst the report doesn’t mention Odegaard as a potential sale, Arsenal could take advantage of Madrid’s lust for Mbappe by putting a tempting offer on the table for Martin. The 22-year-old has failed to break into Madrid and Zidane’s first-team plans so far, and as they look to raise money for an Mbappe purchase, they could be tempted by an Arsenal bid for the player in the summer.
It’s hard to put a valuation on the Madrid duo but TransferMarkt values Odegaard at £36million and Ceballos at £28.8m. My personal opinion is that Madrid would accept bids of those valuations if Arsenal were to make them. I think they’d be willing to take even less in the case of Ceballos, who is very clearly not in their plans.
Come the summer, Mikel Arteta will have had time to have a good look at Odegaard and Ceballos and decide if they are the personnel he needs for his midfield.