PSG desperate to quell feuding megastars – media

15 Aug, 2022 15:49
Tensions rose between Neymar and Kylian Mbappe who should take a penalty when Paris Saint-Germain beat Montpellier on Saturday

Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar and Kylian Mbappe are headed for crisis talks with their relationship having broken down at the club, according to reports from France.

Tensions between the pair, who both joined PSG in the summer of 2017, were evident on Saturday during and after a 5-1 win against Montpellier. 

Mbappe missed a spot-kick earlier in the match, but he then appeared to shoulder barge past Lionel Messi and request that he should take a second penalty, which Neymar refused.

Neymar converted from 12 yards out and then scored to complete a brace.

Later on Twitter however, he 'liked' a pair of posts from Portuguese-speaking fan accounts that criticized Mbappe's attitude and how he now seems to have been appointed as PSG's chief penalty-taker after recently signing a contract extension. 

According to L'Equipe, PSG and their Qatari owners have called for a crisis meeting to take place "very soon" to resolve tensions between two of their star players. 

After Mbappe snubbed Real Madrid in the spring and penned a three-year contract extension at the Parc des Princes, it was reported that the World Cup winner was not just made the game's highest-paid footballer but was also promised a complete overhaul of the Ligue 1 outfit's management.

This included getting rid of former sporting director Leonardo and head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who have since been replaced by Luis Campos and Christophe Galtier respectively, but there were also rumors that Mbappe had requested Neymar's departure too.

L'Equipe said in its report that Mbappe "would not have been against the idea" of Neymar leaving, but the Brazilian's contract has since been renewed until 2027, while Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola ruled out an approach for him. 

Though they quickly became friends in 2017 when both joining the club, Mbappe is said to have been frozen out by Neymar and the Latin or Spanish-speaking contingent at PSG when Messi arrived from Barcelona last summer. 

This therefore pushed Mbappe towards the Francophone group as his continuation was in doubt at the time. 

With the ink still drying on Mbappe's new contract, though, which has granted him increased power, sources have told Get French Football that the 23-year-old now thinks there is only room for two superstars in the squad.

After learning from Neymar for the past half-decade, Mbappe now wants to learn from Messi it is said, and therefore sees his new rival as surplus to requirements. 

Mbappe was also criticized by fans for seeming to give up on a counter attack when the ball was passed to Messi and not him in a viral clip from the Montpellier win.

While this was put down to "personal issues" by L'Equipe and RMC Sport, Galtier now has a big job ahead of him to mend fences between his forwards with their next outing a trip to Lille on Sunday night.