One of Kylian Mbappe's former managers has claimed the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner was keen to join Real Madrid at the end of the 2017/18 season, before Paris Saint-Germain persuaded him to stay with them.
Mbappe, 20, has been linked with a move away from the Parisian giants, and speculation was further fuelled recently by the young Frenchman himself, who said it could be time for a "new project".
PSG have since issued a statement on the former AS Monaco superstar, quashing rumours Mbappe could leave the club in the next transfer window.
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Arsenal boss Unai Emery, who won seven trophies during his two-year stint in charge of PSG, has now claimed that Mbappe snubbed an offer from FC Barcelona in order to join arch-rivals Los Blancos ahead of the 2018/19 campaign, although the move never materialised.
"At some point, everyone pushed at PSG," Emery told Cadena SER.
"I even talked to him and his father to stay. He wanted to choose Real Madrid, he also had a chance at Barcelona, but he wanted Madrid eyes closed.
"Among everybody, we convinced him about the project in France and made him stay. We had to set money over the table, and that's what we did."
Since joining PSG in August 2017, Mbappe has made 86 appearancesfor the club, finding the back of the net on 59 occasions and registering 32 assists.