The ace up Madrid's sleeve to sign Mbappe

Real Madrid and their fans got a shock to the system this Wednesday 11th August when Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Paris Saint-Germain president, assured that Kylian Mbappe will not be leaving the French capital despite Messi's arrival at the Parc des Princes.

The signing of the six-time Ballon D'Or winner opened the window to Mbappe's potential move to the Santiago Bernabeu, after it looked unlikely that PSG would be able to fit him in at the club in terms of their wage bill. Nevertheless, the French side are prepared to keep hold of all of their stars this term.

As such, those at the Parc des Princes appear to only have the option of waiting a few months for the Frenchman's contract to come to an end, before he leaves on a free in 2022. Although he could well have another route out of the club in 2021.

According to Ramos Fuentes in 'Sport', Real Madrid still have the opportunity to push Mbappe into breaking his contract unilaterally with PSG. An unlikely possibility, given that the forward will want to remain on good terms with the Parisian club. However, on an economic level, he would theoretically be a great fit for 'Los Blancos'.

According to information from the aforementioned source, if the moment arrives where Mbappe decides to break his contract, the Frenchman could sign for Real Madrid without any issues. With just a year remaining on his contract, the financial consequences for both the player and club would be minimal.

According to FIFA regulations, Real Madrid would have to pay the compensation due to PSG. In this case, the amount would be determined by FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber, who would dictate a sum to pay depending on a number of factors, such as what his salary might be or how many years the forward had left on his contract at the time of breaking it.

The decision could be appealed by either one of the two parties and the case could end up with TAS. However, if the figure is nothing too crazy, Real Madrid could seriously value the move, especially if it works out cheaper to go via this route rather than pay a transfer fee to PSG.

According to Ramos Fuentes, article 17 of FIFA's Player Transfer Statute would impede any sanction for Mbappe, given that the Frenchman's current contract is far from the "protected period" (the player signed in 2018 after a year's loan), which would entail a sanction of several months. For the same reason, Real Madrid could not be punished either.

A complicated possibility, but anything can happen while the market is still open. Neither Real Madrid nor Mbappe look ready just yet to go to such extremes, but it remains to be seen whether their desire to unite their paths accelerate events.