Paris Saint-Germain attacker Kylian Mbappe is supposedly prepared to buy himself out of his contract at the Parc des Princes in order to force an exit.
The 23-year-old's future has dominated the talk of the transfer market over the past week following revelations that he allegedly wants to leave the French champions next year.
Mbappe was courted by Real Madrid earlier this year, and he was widely expected to join Los Blancos before extending his stay at PSG for another three years.
However, the France international now allegedly feels 'betrayed' due to broken promises that were made at the time of his renewal, and he believes that the fresh terms were a mistake.
Senior figures at PSG, including Christophe Galtier and Luis Campos, have denied claims that Mbappe wants to leave, but the striker is supposedly desperate to sever ties with the capital club.
According to L'Equipe, the relationship between Mbappe and PSG is now irreparable, and the ex-Monaco man is considering a self-inflicted contract termination.
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Should Mbappe go down that avenue, he would end up paying a "colossal" amount to end his stint with the Ligue 1 champions, who allegedly conducted a social media smear campaign against him.
A report from Mediapart claims that PSG's communications department set up a plethora of fake Twitter accounts to lead campaigns against those associated with the club, and Mbappe was one of the targets.
PSG strongly deny concocting a smear campaign against the 23-year-old, but Jeremie Delattre - a French lawyer - told the publication that Mbappe would benefit from proving that the club committed a "serious fault" against him.
"As these are short contracts, they are solidified. In a case like this, it must be demonstrated that the employer has committed a serious fault, a simple fault is not enough," Delattre said.
"The CDDs constitute the whole building of professional football. You do not dismiss or resign from a CDD before its term, you break it so there is a prejudice for one of the two parties and the other must pay him compensation.
"For the employee, it is the remaining wages due until the end of the contract. For the employer, it is the same thing and sometimes more. This compensation is equivalent to the amount of the transfer when a player leaves his club before the end of his lease.
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"A player could be tempted to highlight the obligation of loyalty to his employer. In this case of messages on social networks, a court could consider that the PSG ignored its obligation of loyalty, but it will then be necessary to prove the involvement of the employer.
'It wouldn't be easy for the 23-year-old striker and his advice. But they can already, at first, formalize their anger by sending letters to PSG and thus put pressure on him to leave as soon as possible (more likely in June than in January). This case should go in that direction."
Mbappe's escape routes from PSG appear to be limited, with Real Madrid no longer thought to be interested in signing him following the transfer saga earlier this year.
Liverpool are therefore considered as the only other realistic suitors for Mbappe, but the Reds could end up paying a club-record £85m on the capture of Darwin Nunez from Benfica.
Mbappe has 12 goals to boast from 13 appearances in all competitions this season, taking his total for PSG to 183 strikes and 88 assists in 230 games since 2017.
Ben Knapton
