Prince Albert, who was present for Saturday’s first leg of the Tour de France, was asked by France 2 about whether Kylian Mbappé, AS Monaco’s young superstar, will stay in Monaco: “Kylian wants to stay and we want him to stay,” the Prince told the news channel.
“Discussions are in progress, a solution must be found,” he added.
Yet AS Monaco’s coach Leonardo Jardim has himself cast in doubt whether the club will be able to hold onto Mbappe.
While just a few days ago it appeared the 18-year-old attacker might move to Real Madrid, there have been reports at the weekend that Arsenal is considering an offer of almost €140 million.
Also Speaking on Saturday, Jardim said: “Every trainer in the world wants to keep their best players, but it’s not always possible.
“We will see what happens but the most important thing now is to focus 100% on our work, and to help develop the youngsters and later we will see who we have.”
However, Jardim held out hope that Mbappe might stay. “We want to keep him,” he said.
Bernardo Silva, Nabil Dirar and Valere Germain have already left, while Thomas Lemar, Fabinho, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Benjamin Mendy have all been reported as possible transfers away from Monaco.
“I hope to keep the right players,” he said. “It is not just me, all the coaches of the world would like to keep the best players. But with the Monaco project, maybe it’s not possible to always keep the best. We’re going to look at what’s going to happen.
“Three players left. Other players could leave us. Everyone knows our project. It did not change even if we have won the title. The project is the same. The goal is still win. Nothing changed.”
READ ALSO
READ ALSO