The Ligue 1 soccer club Paris Saint-Germain has entered negotiations with Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal over star PSG and France striker Kylian Mbappé, according to multiple reports.
Mbappé, who is in the last year of his PSG contract, could receive a massive payday of $776 million for a single year as part of the deal, according to reports from CBS and transfers expert Fabrizio Romano, by far the richest single-season sports contract ever out. That number would include “commercial” deals, Romano reported, in addition to Mbappé’s soccer obligations to the Saudi club.
After news broke on Monday that PSG is reportedly willing to move on from the 24-year-old superstar, athletes beyond the footballing world reacted to the news, perhaps wondering if they’d chosen the wrong sport to play.
Damian Lillard is one of the highest-paid players in the NBA at $45 million per season, but his deal is a fraction of Mbappé’s potential contract. His response to the money Mbappé might soon make? “Wtf lol.”
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo — reported annual salary: $45.6 million — looked to be wondering if he could switch positions with the French footballer. “You can take me,” the NBA star tweeted to Al Hilal, referencing a purported resemblance. Mbappé replied to Antetokounmpo with a series of laughing emojis.
Mbappé’s reported contract offer is hundreds of millions more than LeBron James’s $530 million lifetime earnings over his 21-year NBA career.
James and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green also reacted to the Mbappé news on Monday in Twitter posts.
Soccer stars are some of the highest-paid athletes in the world, and players like Lionel Messi, the Argentine megastar who spent decades at FC Barcelona before that legendary club’s sudden financial woes landed him at PSG (and, this summer, Inter Miami in the U.S.) and Cristiano Ronaldo routinely lead those lists, with recent contracts getting not only richer but more creative, including, for example, ownership stakes.
To be clear, Mbappé would need to sign off on a deal with Al Hilal to receive that record-smashing pay, and ESPN reported that he is unlikely to do so. Mbappé is one of the best footballers in the world and reports indicate he would prefer to play in a top league like Spain’s La Liga or the English Premier League instead of the less robust Saudi Pro League, even as, of late, a number of boldface names have been drawn to the kingdom.
Mbappé has made roughly $292 million in his career, according to Capology.com estimates.
See also: The top 5 highest-paid women’s soccer players at the 2023 Women’s World Cup
Other well-known players have joined the Saudi League in recent years for huge contracts. The Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who has starred for Manchester United and Real Madrid, is earning an estimated $213 million this year from the club Al Nassr, the biggest annual deal in sports, and Karim Benzema of France and Real Madrid fame is reportedly collecting $214 million on his two-year contract with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad.
For its outsized roles in LIV Golf, English soccer and Formula 1, some critics have called out Saudi Arabia for “sportswashing,” a criticism leveled at entities alleged to be using an athletic event or association to polish a tarnished reputation.
According to the U.S. Department of State, Saudi Arabia has been accused in recent years of multiple human-rights violations, including: unlawful killings; executions for nonviolent offenses; forced disappearances; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners and detainees by government agents; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; and taking political prisoners or detainees, among other offenses.
