Kylian Mbappe finds himself in the unique position of training alone at home while his Paris Saint-Germain teammates are playing abroad.
Speculation is mounting as to where Mbappe will play his first game of the season. Will he stay at PSG, go to Real Madrid or fly far away to Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal?
While soccer fans in Japan are disappointed not to see the superstar after he was left out of the club's pre-season tour, PSG fans may have to brace themselves for a similar scenario when the French champions open their league campaign on Aug. 12.
The 24-year-old Mbappe is locked in a contract standoff and neither side seems prepared to give ground.
PSG is finally standing up to one of its big-name stars -- after years of pandering to the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Neymar -- while Mbappe is determined to do things on his own terms.
Mbappe has already told the club he won't trigger a 12-month extension on his contract, which expires at the end of next June. He has until Monday to change his mind and sign the extension, but that looks increasingly impossible.
Mbappe has already made it clear he intends to play only this season with the French champions, and then leave. That means he could join long-time suitor Real Madrid for free. With no transfer fee involved, Madrid can offer him a lucrative signing bonus and a massive salary.
PSG is having none of it, and says the top scorer at last year's World Cup will either sign the current extension offer in place, sign a new contract altogether, or prepare to be sold.
That has opened the door for Saudi team Al-Hilal to make a world record $332 million bid for Mbappe -- a huge amount under any circumstances, but even more so for a player in the final year of his contract. By comparison, Madrid offered 180 million euros (US$200 million) for the striker in 2021.
But money is seemingly no object in the oil-rich kingdom and the promise of inflated wages means players are flocking there from Europe. Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly earns up to $200 million a year, despite being close to 40 years old, while the Saudi-funded LIV Golf tour has shaken up professional golf and the country hosts a glitzy Formula One race.
The moves are part of efforts by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to leverage the kingdom's oil wealth to provide new jobs and opportunities at home. However, critics have dismissed the efforts as "sportswashing," attempting to leverage professional sports to clean up the kingdom's poor human rights image.
Al-Hilal failed to sign Lionel Messi. The Argentina great instead joined Inter Miami, so the Riyad-based club has turned its attentions to Mbappe.
It seems unlikely, however, that Mbappe will be lured just yet. Unlike Ronaldo or Messi, he has never won the Champions League, let alone the Ballon d'Or -- Ronaldo and Messi have won 12 Ballon d'Or trophies and nine Champions League titles between them.
Mbappe became only the second player in history to score a hat trick in a World Cup final last year in Qatar, and he seems to have unfinished business at the highest level of European soccer. So that makes Madrid the favourite to sign him.
He would join the most decorated club at European level with 14 European Cup titles, and fans would see him as an ideal replacement for Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema.
PSG could try pressuring Mbappe to sign a new contract by leaving him out of the team when the season starts. But given that PSG only won the league by one point last season, that appears to be a risky strategy and might displease fans. It would also create a potentially toxic atmosphere for new PSG coach Luis Enrique.
While Mbappe waits for his teammates to return, he works out alone at the training complex in the quiet suburb of Poissy.
The noise surrounding his transfer will keep getting louder, however, until a final decision is made.
Lebanon's health minister said 51 people were killed and 223 wounded Wednesday in Israeli strikes.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he wants to build a tunnel under Highway 401 that would stretch from Brampton to Scarborough.
Helene became a hurricane Wednesday after rapidly strengthening in the Caribbean Sea and moved north along Mexico's coast on a path toward the U.S., leading residents to evacuate, schools to close, and officials to declare emergencies in Florida and Georgia.
More Canadians are installing solar panels on their homes, but some are facing challenges when it comes to getting home insurance after the panels are put in.
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Statistics Canada says the population of the country reached an estimated 41,288,599 on July 1.
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The acting director of the U.S. Secret Service was incensed at what had happened that July evening. 'What I saw made me ashamed,' Ronald Rowe Jr. said. 'I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.'
A man who "systematically isolated, manipulated, deceived, abused, and exploited" an elderly North Vancouver woman has lost his ownership stake in her home.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he wants to build a tunnel under Highway 401 that would stretch from Brampton to Scarborough.
Searching for polar bears where the Churchill River dumps into Canada's massive Hudson Bay, biologist Geoff York scans a region that's on a low fat, low ice diet because of climate change. And it's getting lower on polar bears.
Statistics Canada says the population of the country reached an estimated 41,288,599 on July 1.
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An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
A Missouri man convicted of breaking into a woman’s home and repeatedly stabbing her was executed Tuesday over the objections of the victim’s family and the prosecutor, who wanted the death sentence commuted to life in prison.
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The death toll from an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran rose to 50 on Wednesday after one of the miners who was injured in the weekend blast died in hospital, the Iranian state television reported.
The acting director of the U.S. Secret Service was incensed at what had happened that July evening. 'What I saw made me ashamed,' Ronald Rowe Jr. said. 'I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.'
Iran’s new president signaled to world leaders Tuesday that he wants to open a 'constructive' chapter in his country’s international relations — but he made clear that everyone else, including the United States, needs to do their part.
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A major yogurt maker is recalling one of its brands in Canada over concerns that it may cause illness in immunocompromised people.
A team at the University of Waterloo are developing a process to 3D-print bones, which could dramatically improve the quality of life for cancer and trauma patients.
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NHL star forward Claude Giroux had his car stolen in Ottawa on Tuesday evening, his wife says.
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Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.
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A statement from the province said Musyj will work closely with LHSC senior leadership and staff to address concerns regarding hospital governance and operations, and management practices, including concerning financial performance, that were found as a result of a third-party review.
Fire crews from Listowel, Atwood, and Monkton battled the blaze on Line 81, which started around 5 p.m. Tuesday.
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Three construction workers are being praised for their actions that police in Barrie say likely prevented an armed man from fleeing before being taken into custody.
A 17-year-old boy faces several charges and police are on the hunt for several more suspects following an armed home invasion and theft in Orillia.
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A statement from the province said Musyj will work closely with LHSC senior leadership and staff to address concerns regarding hospital governance and operations, and management practices, including concerning financial performance, that were found as a result of a third-party review.
The Windsor police POP Unit has made more arrests as part of a retail theft operation. According to police, 19 people were arrested and 45 charges were laid during the operation last week.
A quartet of alleged thieves pried their way into a Devonshire Mall apparel store early Monday morning, with the store’s owner reporting thousands of dollars worth of shoes were stolen.
The leader of the BC NDP took his campaign message to Terrace on Tuesday, where he promised to add to the dozens of hospital upgrades and new builds his party has already undertaken.
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A city councillor in British Columbia says an online mob of "extremists" and "politically motivated hackers" is responsible for uncovering and publicizing a photo of him wearing a blackface costume to a Halloween party in 2007.
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The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
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Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.
To make higher education an easier step to take for Indigenous students, the University of Lethbridge is dropping some fees for those applicants.
The woman who alleges that Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard sexually assaulted her in June 2016 is set to continue her testimony in court today.
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Newfoundland and Labrador sponsored a minor football team in England, now they’re about to play one of the biggest clubs in European soccer.
Newfoundland and Labrador's chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
A 16-year-old biennial event aimed at fostering business in the country's eastern Arctic and northern regions has been cancelled indefinitely as a dispute unfolds between Inuit in Canada and a Labrador group claiming to share their heritage.
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