Mbappe left out of PSG’s league opener

PARIS (AFP): French superstar Kylian Mbappe has been left out of Paris Saint-Germain’s league opener on Saturday with uncertainty hanging over the France captain’s future.

Mbappe, who missed training on Friday, has refused to sign a contract extension with the Ligue 1 champions.

Mbappe’s contract dispute has dominated headlines all summer.

He has refused to sign an extension to his PSG deal, meaning he can leave for free next year, with Real Madrid long seen as his preferred destination.

PSG want to sell him now and bring in a significant transfer fee for a player who cost 180 million euros ($198m) from Monaco in 2017.

Mbappe has not been allowed train with the first team and played only one of PSG’s five warm-up games and was not invited to the pre-season tour in Japan and South Korea.

Also missing against Lorient on Saturday evening is Brazilian Neymar who is sidelined with a “viral syndrome”.

The club are reported to be open to selling the former Barcelona star and Italian midfielder Marco Verratti, who has also not been called up against Lorient.

With Lionel Messi now with Inter Miami the new PSG coach Luis Enrique is expected to start three newcomers in attack – South Korean Lee Kang-In, Portuguese Gonçalo Ramos and Spaniard Marco Asensio.

Earlier Saturday PSG completed the signing of France international forward Ousmane Dembele on a five-year deal form Barcelona.

“Welcome home my brother, so happy to see you here, the adventure begins”, Mbappe posted on social media to greet Dembele with whom he won the 2018 World Cup in 2018.