Growing pressure on Mbappe to stay at PSG

There is growing pressure on Kylian Mbappe to stay at Paris Saint-Germain beyond the expiry of his contract in the summer, with PSG's owners and fans agreeing that he should have a team built around him in order to keep him at the club.

The big question is whether PSG's late surge to keep Mbappe has come too late, as they offered him a record-breaking new contract in February.

Despite speculation about his future growing, Mbappe's on-pitch commitment to PSG has been clear to see as he scored the winner in the first leg of their Champions League tie with Real Madrid and found the back of the net twice in their latest Ligue 1 against Saint-Etienne.

PSG fans' banner

Fans have shown their support for Mbappe with a banner in the Auteuil stand of the Parc des Princes.

"From Bondy to Paris, Kylian, your story is written here," their banner said.

French media continue to cling on to hope that Mbappe will stay, especially following his brace at the weekend which put him second on the all-time PSG goal scorers list.

Mbappe would need 44 more goals to break Edinson Cavani's club record of 200 goals, so one more season at PSG could see him make history.

"I've equalled [Zlatan Ibrahimovic's tally] and, if there are no big problems, I'll overtake him," Mbappe said.

"Cavani's record remains [to be broken]. We'll see how it goes. You can't ignore the prospect of being the top scorer in PSG's history.

"My goal has always been to leave a mark on people's memories, either with statistics or visually or emotionally.

"I'm happy to do it here in Paris. I always wanted to be the first. We have to keep looking for it because there are still games left. But the main target is to win titles, the Champions League or another Ligue 1."

Mbappe already knows what PSG and their fans think of him, for now at least. They have been able to show their affection and the club, as MARCA understands, have offered him a new contract to stay for two seasons, but Mbappe is yet to agree to it.

The second leg of the Champions League tie at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu is just around the corner and the pressure from PSG doesn't appear to have changed Mbappe's mind regarding his future, at least not for now.

Although it's complicated because of the ongoing Champions League tie between the clubs, it's time for Real Madrid to make their play for the prolific forward.

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