Thierry Henry gives Kylian Mbappe Real Madrid transfer advice

Tom Weber

• Updated: 14 Dec 2023 09:33 GMT
• 3 min read

Thierry Henry believes that 'unfinished business' and 'love' for PSG will keep Kylian Mbappe in France beyond January.

PSG have survived their Champions League scare. A 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund was enough for the French side to qualify for the knockouts. Kylian Mbappe was on the scoresheet, taking his tally for the season to an absurd 18 goals in 20 matches in all competitions.

The 24-year-old continues to be crucial for PSG and they naturally want to keep him. His contract, however, is still expiring in 2024 and so far it seems there has been no tangible progress in the negotiations over an extension.

Though French media has played down claims that PSG's performance in Europe will influence the Frenchman's decision, there have nevertheless been suggestions that Mbappe could have made his mind up had PSG been knocked out in the group stage.

Indeed, prior to the Dortmund game with PSG's European fate still hanging in the balance, Jamie Carragher, speaking on CBS Sports, asked France legend Thierry Henry if Mbappe would leave if Real Madrid already came knocking in January (for which they would have, of course, had to pay a hefty transfer fee) so as to allow him to stay in the Champions League.

What did Henry say?

The former Arsenal and Barcelona player responded: "If I'm Kylian Mbappe, I'm not going. Because you want to finish what you started. You still have to win the league. He loves Paris Saint-Germain, you need to also understand that, he loves his club, he's from there."

Carragher then chimed in, asking why he is running his contract down if he loves the club, to which Henry said: "He gave them two more years [in 2022] when he was supposed to leave. Who would have done that?"

"He was man enough - because he could have said nothing and just walked then - he gave them the opportunity at the beginning of the season, 'if you want to sell me, you can, but I'm not going to sign a new contract.' Which is something that not a lot of players do sometimes, he came out and he said it."

"But he still does love PSG...You have guys that [were] at Dortmund, in the academy of Dortmund, went to Bayern and came back to Dortmund. Your love will never change, you know, it's always in you, but sometimes you go to places to compete a bit better with yourself."