The game's hottest young talent is staying at Paris Saint-Germain and not joining the biggest brand in world football, Real Madrid. Kylian Mbappe's contract with PSG expires in 40 days and, for much of the past year, it seemed a dead certainty that he would bid the French capital adieu and take a massive free-agent deal in Madrid.
After all, Mbappe, 23, has a long and flirtatious history with Madrid. He was invited to training sessions at their academy as an 11-year-old and slept under a poster of Cristiano Ronaldo (the happy, productive Madrid version).