MONACO have denied they have reached a £161MILLION fee with Real Madrid for striker Kylian Mbappe.
According to stunning claims from Spanish sports paper Marca, Real Madrid have agreed to pay £143m (€160m) up front with around a further £18m (€20m) coming in add-ons.
But Monaco have told Sky Sports they have NOT agreed to sell Mbappe to Real Madrid.
Marca looked to have broken the biggest transfer story of the summer when they reported Real have reached an agreement in principle with the French club this morning.
Paris Saint-Germain had threatened to smash the world transfer record with a £196m move for Barcelona superstar Neymar.
But it seemed that Real Madrid were going to set a new record fee by landing Mbappe – one of the hottest properties in world football.
Real have made around £100m this summer from the sales of Alvaro Morata and Danilo to Chelsea and Manchester City respectively, as well as loaning out James Rodriguez to Bayern Munich.
And Marca say Real have reinvested that figure and some by landing Mbappe on a six-year contract worth around £120,000-a-week.
The 18-year-old is said to complete his move in the coming days and wants to join Real immediately and not remain at Monaco for another season on loan.
Mbappe shot to fame last season after hitting 24 goals in 41 games for Monaco as they won Ligue 1 and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The teenager has since been linked with a host of Premier League teams, but was a top target for Real Madrid.
And the Spanish giants faced the most intense competition from Manchester City and boss Pep Guardiola.
Marca add Real chiefs met their Monaco counterparts last week for transfer talks as Zinedine Zidane worked on the personal touch.
Zidane, an idol of Mbappe’s growing up, apparently contacted the player and his family to reassure them about moving to the Bernabeu.
Monaco originally demanded £170m but did not want to sell to French rivals Paris Saint-Germain, while the player preferred Real over City.
Arsene Wenger recently admitted that Mbappe would cost someone over £100m but believed he would remain at Monaco.
“What we know now is that Mbappe is over £100m and after that it’s free to imagine what you want,” Wenger said.
“But we have not made any offer. I think he will stay, it looks like that. One more season. Maybe he has too much choice. In the end, people with too much choice don’t move.”
Source:www.express.co.uk