PSG sign Kylian Mbappe and Fabinho in stunning record-breaking deal as summer spree continues

The Monaco duo will join PSG and Fabinho is set to be replaced by Anderlecht midfielder Leander Dendoncker.

ByDuncan Castles      AUG 23, 2017

Paris Saint-Germain have concluded an agreement with AS Monaco to sign Kylian Mbappe and Fabinho from the Ligue 1 champions.

The joint move, which The Daily Record first reported in early August , will push the Qatar-owned club's outlay on transfer fees alone to well over €400million in the current window.

That unprecedented spend includes a fee of €55m for Fabinho, who is to be replaced in the Monaco squad by Belgium international Leander Dendoncker. The 22-year-old midfielder's exit from Anderlecht can be seen as some kind of bonus to Celtic, who were drawn yesterday into a Champions League group with PSG , Bayern Munich and Anderlecht.

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, Mbappe's ultimate transfer-fee cost to PSG will exceed the world-record €222m sum required to activate Neymar's release clause at Barcelona. A percentage of Mbappe's fee will be contingent on performance-related variables.

PSG's acquisition of Mbappe means that a club whose goal is to win a first Champions League this season has inflicted direct damage on both Real Madrid and Barcelona in this summer's transfer market – as well as preventing Manchester City from signing Mbappe.

Earlier this month, the teenage France international agreed personal terms at the Santiago Bernabeu that would have multiplied his after-tax earnings by more than a factor of 10; with Madrid in the process of finalising a transfer fee with Monaco. As Madrid readied to defeat Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup, club president Florentino Perez learned that PSG had gazumped his agreement with Mbappe.

PSG improved the financial terms on offer to both Mbappe, who is expected to be remunerated with a basic after-tax salary of around €9m, and father Wilfried, who represented his son in the negotiations. When Perez made efforts to resurrect Madrid's deal, Monaco took advantage of the situation to inflate the final agreement on Mbappe's transfer fee, also negotiating for the potential inclusion of Brazil international Lucas Moura in the deal.

Mbappe has played just one full campaign of senior professional football, delivering 26 goals from 44 appearances as Monaco took the Ligue 1 title away from PSG and reached the semi-final of the Champions League, a competition in which the striker scored six times. Called into the France national squad for the first time in March, the 18-year-old also made his international last season.

The highest profile of a list of extremely talented youngsters recruited for Monaco by former technical director Luis Campos, Mbappe cost the principality club €3m and was on a weekly wage of €34,600.

 His sale to PSG ensures that Monaco will have raised more money from transfer fees in a single window than any club ever, with Bernardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy and Tiemoue Bakayoko all sold to English Premier League clubs in the most prominent of the French champions' earlier sales.

Fabinho's exit allows Monaco to open up a place on its squad list for a non-EU player, while fulfilling the principality club's promise to the versatile Brazilian that he would be allowed to leave Monaco this summer.

The 23-year-old, who has excelled at Champions League level at both right back and in the centre of midfield, had been on a list of potential recruits drawn up by Old Trafford manager Jose Mourinho.

Dendoncker had attracted a degree of interest from Everton and United and was wanted by Atletico Madrid. Valued at around €35m by Anderlecht, the 1m88 midfielder did not train with the Belgian Pro League champions on Friday.