Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe 'agrees to join Real Madrid'

For the past couple of years, not a single transfer window has gone by without the 25-year-old being strongly linked with a switch to the Spanish capital, only for Real to be frustrated in their efforts time and time again.

Los Blancos failed with a €200m (£172.1m) bid in the 2021 summer window and were ostensibly on course to sign Mbappe on a free transfer in 2022, only to see the Frenchman pen an unexpected contract extension that year.

However, there was another fresh twist in the Mbappe soap opera in 2023, as the ex-Monaco man informed PSG that he would not trigger the 12-month extension option in his contract, which is due to expire this summer.

Mbappe's decision led to PSG pulling out all the stops to try to sell the forward in the most recent summer window, even accepting a world-record €300m (£258.1m) bid from Al-Hilal and briefly banishing the 25-year-old from the first-team group.

Mbappe showed no desire to move to Saudi Arabia, though, and even with Karim Benzema departing Real Madrid for Al-Ittihad, Los Blancos' capture of Jude Bellingham meant that they could not bring the PSG man to the club within the parameters of Financial Fair Play.

Mbappe has continued his prolific ways since the latest saga, but there have been suggestions that Real could even drop their interest in 2024, given the striker's age and previous failures leaving a bitter taste in the mouth.

Liverpool had supposedly emerged as serious contenders to sign the French World Cup winner this year, but according to Foot Mercato, an agreement between Real and Mbappe is finally in place.

Having entered the last six months of his contract in January, Mbappe has been free to talk to foreign teams, and the report states that the two parties shook hands on a deal over the past few days.

However, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has insisted that Mbappe will not be leaving the club on a free transfer under any circumstances, and the striker is also said to be keen to avoid such a scenario out of respect for the French champions.

As such, it remains to be seen how Real Madrid will structure a potential transfer with PSG, who would be powerless to prevent Mbappe walking out of the door for nothing unless he agreed to a contract extension.

Carlo Ancelotti's side had reportedly given Mbappe a deadline of mid-January to make a final decision on his long-term future, otherwise they would move on to alternative attacking targets, but the Frenchman is now one step closer to his anticipated Bernabeu transfer.

Over the past six-and-a-half years, Mbappe has amassed a club-record 234 goals in 283 games for PSG - in addition to 100 assists - and he has struck 25 goals in just 24 matches during the 2023-24 campaign.

The 25-year-old netted a hat-trick in PSG's 9-0 Coupe de France dismantling of Revel on Sunday, becoming PSG's all-time highest scorer in the French Cup with a total of 30 strikes.

Only Bayern Munich's Harry Kane has also struck 25 goals in Europe's top five leagues during the 2023-24 season, while Real's top scorer Bellingham has 17 in all tournaments this season.