Kylian Mbappe completes move from Monaco to Ligue 1 rivals PSG

The 18-year-old has finally completed a protracted move to the Parisian club having played just one match for Monaco this season

Mbappe has moved from Monaco to PSG (Getty)

Kylian Mbappe has signed for PSG from Monaco on loan, concluding one of the longest-running sagas of the summer transfer window.

The 18-year-old France international was previously close to joining Real Madrid, but will now return to his home city of Paris. He joins initially on loan with PSG having the option to sign him permanently next summer for a fee £166m.

"For any young person from the Paris region, it is a dream to wear the red and blue jersey," he said upon signing.

Mbappe was little known outside his native France at the beginning of the 2015/16 campaign, but went on to light up Ligue with an impressive 15 goals in 29 appearances as Monaco won the league.

He also excelled in the Champions League, scoring six times and particularly impressing against Manchester City in the Round of 16.

The move from Ligue 1 champions Monaco to last season’s runners-up PSG was agreed earlier this week but was delayed as the club struggled to find a way to sign the teenager while also staying within Uefa’s financial fair play (FFP) regulations.

The striker burst onto the scene last season (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

Having signed the Brazilian forward Neymar earlier in the window for a world-record fee of €222m, PSG had to structure the deal for Mbappe in such a way that stayed in compliance with the FFP regulations, which allows a club only a €30m deficit.

He will join the club on loan prior to signing to ensure that PSG remain within the regulations.

Mbappe was dropped after Monaco’s opening Ligue 1 game of the season earlier this month, with Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim leaving him on the substitutes’ bench for the games against Dijon and Marseille, and France manager Didier Deschamps confirmed that he has been told that Mbappe will be “changing clubs” this summer ahead of the international fixtures against the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Mbappe is currently away on international duty (Getty)

“He’s changing club but staying in Ligue 1,” Deschamps told reporters. “The future will say if he’s made a good decision.

“Today he is still an AS Monaco player. That is the truth, not a spin, the truth.”