Paris Saint-Germain attacker Kylian Mbappe has claimed that he is "very happy" at the Parc des Princes and admitted that he would have already left if his future hinged on Champions League success.
Speculation surrounding the 24-year-old's future dominated the talk of the transfer market for a couple of years, with Real Madrid fighting tooth and nail to bring him to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Late in the 2021 summer window, PSG rejected a mammoth offer of £137m from Real Madrid for Mbappe, who only had one year left to run on his contract at that point.
Despite the expectation that Mbappe would join Real Madrid on a free transfer last year, PSG managed to tie the French World Cup winner down to a new two-year deal with the option of a third.
However, just a few months after keeping Mbappe on the books, PSG were rocked by reports claiming that the striker regretted his decision to stay and did in fact want to leave after all.
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Real Madrid are unlikely to try again for the ex-Monaco starlet following last year's saga, although Manchester United have been linked with a move should a lucrative takeover go through in the summer.
As things stand, Mbappe will be able to leave PSG on a free transfer in 2024, and he supposedly only has four months to trigger his extension option until the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
During Saturday's 4-2 win over Nantes in Ligue 1, Mbappe became PSG's highest goalscorer of all time with a 201st goal for the club, surpassing the previous record of 200 set by Edinson Cavani.
Speaking to the press after etching his name into the history books, Mbappe reaffirmed his commitment to the French champions and joked that he would have gone 'far away' if his desire to win a European title won over.
"For me it's a privilege to play here. I'm from Paris and being at PSG is special. I arrived when I was young and I've grown and matured a lot, on and off the pitch, since then," the striker said.
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"I don't think so - if I linked my future to the Champions League, and I don't want to disrespect the club, I would have gone very far [away]! I am here and I am very happy, and for the moment I'm not thinking about anything other than making PSG happy."
Mbappe has taken just 247 games to score a record-breaking 201 goals for PSG, as well as contributing 96 assists for Les Parisiens since initially joining on loan from Monaco in 2017.
A remarkable 2022-23 season for the 24-year-old has seen him score 30 goals and set up eight more in 30 games across all tournaments, with his 18 strikes in Ligue 1 putting him two clear of Wissam Ben Yedder and Jonathan David at the top of the scoring charts.
PSG travel to Germany for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Bayern Munich on Wednesday night, and they have a one-goal deficit to make up following Kingsley Coman's winner in the first leg.
Under-fire head coach Christophe Galtier has already confirmed that Neymar will not be available for the second leg due to his ankle injury, but Achraf Hakimi should shake off a thigh injury in time to play, despite recently being charged with rape by French prosecutors.
Ben Knapton
