Real Madrid set to blow Arsenal out of the water with '€135m bid for Kylian Mbappe'

The 18-year-old forward is one of Europe's most wanted players

Mbappe netted 22 goals from 38 league appearances this season (Getty)

Real Madrid are set to offer €135m for Kylian Mbappe - according to reports in France - as Arsenal mull over upping the stakes from their rejected bid.

Radio station RMC have claimed that the European champions are formulating a third bid, which would constitute a world-record fee, to take the 18-year-old forward to the Bernabeu.

Monaco are in no rush to sell the teenager, having already brought in some €50m from the sale of Bernardo Silva this summer and with the likes of Benjamin Mendy expected to follow him out of the door for another sizeable fee.

And yet €135m may prove too difficult for the French champions to turn down, allowing them to stock up on the next wave of young talent.

Leonardo Jardim has already signed Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans this summer, who is considered one of the world's best teenagers.

Mbappe, for his part, recently insisted that he wants to be playing first-team football if he is to leave the club.

It is those declarations that give Arsenal hope, with Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis spotted in the south of France this week. The Gunners bid what would be a club-record fee for Mbappe last week but it was lower than Madrid's previous offers and was rejected.

Should Arsenal be willing to push the boat out for Mbappe, the young striker could prefer the chance to play every week to fitting around the pre-existing hierarchy at the Bernabeu, but that remains a big 'if'.