INTERNATIONAL: Paris St Germain has rejected Real Madrid’s offer for France forward Kylian Mbappe. It appears to be a simple matter of the offer being too low. It was almost $188-million, but then PSG did pay $200-million to acquire him.

It was widely thought that PSG would have been happy to sell Mbappe, with it just having forked out millions for Lionel Messi, and the fact that Mbappe actually wants to move to Spain, but Real’s initial offer tabled on Sunday was labelled as a “first move”.

However his bosses feel about cash in the bank, PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino will be reluctant to see Mbappe go if Real ups their offer. He’s under a lot of pressure to get some silverware this season, and obviously sees Mbappe and Messi as being the keys to unlocking the cabinet. PSG ended last season with only one major trophy, the French Cup, after losing the league title by just one point to Lille.