Schuster: 'Mbappe is losing his golden years at PSG'

"Mbappe needs to be in one of Europe's top three national championships as soon as possible," Schuster told Bild (Germany) on July 20. "Disappointment at PSG is growing. Mbappe is losing his golden years there."

Mbappe holds the record of scoring 212 goals in 260 games for PSG. On average each season, the 24-year-old striker scored 35 goals for the Paris team. He has won six Ligue 1, three French Cups, two French League Cups and two French Super Cups, but no Champions League.

Mbappe only has a contract with PSG until June 2024. In early June, he announced that he would not extend his contract until 2025, meaning that PSG must sell this summer if they do not want to lose everything after a year. Mbappe's move led to a strong response from the French club's leadership. President Nasser Al Khelaifi set a deadline for Mbappe to extend his contract on July 31. Otherwise, he will sell to recover the transfer fee.

In 2018, PSG bought Mbappe outright for $200 million. But at the moment, they are not easy to sell at that level to a player with only one year of contract left. The most likely partner right now is Real with a limited budget, having spent $ 110 million to buy Jude Bellingham from Dortmund and $ 22 million to buy Arda Guler from Fenerbahce.

After Karim Benzema left, Real borrowed striker Joselu from Espanyol. However, Schuster does not believe that the striker who scored 16 goals in 33 La Liga games last season can replace the player who won the Ballon d'Or in 2022. "For the past 10 years, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema have always scored 30 or 40 goals a season," Schuter added. "Joselu won't do that. That's why I think President Florentino Perez will focus on the end of the summer transfer window."

If Mbappe sells, PSG will have more money and salary budget gap to recruit Bernardo Silva and Harry Kane. The French team is competing with Bayern Munich to buy Kane. They also targeted striker Dusan Vlahovic, but Juventus demanded $ 90 million. This summer, PSG spent about $ 170 million to recruit Milan Skriniar, Marco Asensio, Manuel Ugarte, Lee Kang In, Lucas Hernandez, Cher Ndour, Xavi Simons and buy Hugo Ekitike outright. If they spend more, the Ligue 1 champions could be in breach of financial fair play laws.