Marseille manager Igor Tudor has given a wide-ranging interview in today’s L’Équipe, where he notably discusses his team’s title race with Paris Saint-Germain. The former Juventus centre-back is having a remarkable first season as head of Les Phocéens. Marseille are second in Ligue 1 standings with only a 7-point deficit on league leaders, their Classique arch-rivals. Tudor was asked if Les Parisiens, who humbled Marseille 3-0 at the Velodrome with Kylian Mbappé heavily involved in all three goal, were within reach.

“If they want to win, they win“, Tudor assessed, implying that PSG are their own worst enemy. “And then, there is Mbappé.” The former Hellas Verona coach explained that, to him, Argentinian playmaker Lionel Messi is the best player in the sport’s history, “but today, Mbappé is the best in the world and his team is not the same without him.” Tudor takes as an example the Coupe de France tie between Marseille and PSG, that Les Phocéens won 2-1 with Mbappé a notable absentee. “Then, with him, and with more motivation from them, they won”, Tudor adds.

Marseille will host a resurgent Montpellier side on Friday for Ligue 1 gameweek 29 to put pressure on PSG and reduce the deficit to four points. PSG will host Lyon on Sunday evening.

The deal of the century that took a lot of ink from the Real Madrid press to buy Mbappe has come to an end.

According to sources from Marca (Spain), Real Madrid has decided not to make any important signings in the upcoming summer transfer window. The decision comes despite the club’s lingering interest in acquiring world-class superstar Kylian Mbappe.

The French striker has long been one of the top transfer targets of the ‘Spanish Royal Team’. At the 2022 summer market, Real Madrid seemed to be very close to acquiring Mbappe for 180 million euros, but he finally decided to sign a new contract with Paris Saint Germain with a term until 2025.

Despite failing to get the signature of the top scorer of the World Cup 2022, Real Madrid has not completely given up on its “prey”. The ‘white vulture’ has always been monitoring Mbappe’s every move with PSG, especially in the context that the striker is said to be uncommitted about his future at PSG. In November of last year, Mbappe said that his focus was on winning the World Cup for the second time with France. Other than that, he wasn’t sure of anything else.

Real will not buy Mbappe this summer. PHOTO: INTERNET

However, it is possible that Real fans will not be able to see Mbappe play at Bernanbeu Stadium in the near future. The 13-time Champions League-winning team has invested heavily in blockbuster signings like Aurelien Tchouameni or Eduardo Camavinga in recent transfer windows and does not want to continue splashing money in the next summer of 2023.

Mbappe’s future has been a hot topic of discussion for several years now. Many leading European clubs expressed interest in the French player. However, the striker signed a new three-year contract with PSG in May last year, although the final year of the deal was an optional extension on his part. Despite entering the final 12 months of the interim terms of his current contract, Mbappe is unlikely to push for a move this summer either.