Karim Benzema has urged his France team-mate Kylian Mbappe to leave Paris Saint-Germain and join him at Real Madrid this summer. Mbappe is about to enter the final year of his PSG contract and has been strongly linked with a move to the Spanish giants.
The 22-year-old striker is one of the most sought-after players in the world ahead of the summer transfer window opening on June 9 for 12 weeks.
He scored 42 goals in 47 appearances for PSG across all competitions in 2020/21 and goes into the European Championships in red-hot form for favourites France.
While his focus will currently be on adding the Euro 2020 trophy to the World Cup he was instrumental in winning in 2018, his future in club football is bound to be on his mind too.
Real Madrid have been long-time admirers of Mbappe and are reportedly prioritising his signature this summer after welcoming back Carlo Ancelotti as manager.
According to Marca, Real president Florentino Perez could sell as many as seven first-team players to fund a move for the striker, who cost PSG £166million from Monaco in the summer of 2017.
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Mbappe will be hoping to add his name to this list this summer (Image: Express Sport)
Los Blancos have already agreed contract extensions with Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez, but doubts remain over Sergio Ramos, who is soon to be out of contract, and Raphael Varane, who has been strongly linked with Manchester United.
If Real do succeed in landing Mbappe, then it will be a case of second time lucky. Mbappe met with Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2014 as the Spanish club tried to convince him to join from Monaco, but were ultimately turned down.
"My parents wanted me to start my career in France, to be educated in France," Mbappe told Paris-based magazine L'Obs recently.
"To play football, but also to continue my education. To go to Spain, even if it was with Zidane, it was another country, another culture."