Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has urged France team-mate Kylian Mbappe to join him at the Santiago Bernabeu next season.
Real have been in hot pursuit of Mbappe for what feels like an eternity, with the Spanish side waiting until he enters the final year of his contract this summer to boost their chances of signing Mbappe for a 'reasonable fee'.
Mbappe has yet to put pen to paper on an extension with Paris Saint-Germain, leaving Real feeling confident about their chances of striking a deal worth around £100m, and Benzema confessed to AFP (via RMC Sport) that he would love the chance to link up with his international team-mate at club level.
"Him coming to Real, that would be ideal," Benzema said. "All the great players want to come to Real Madrid one day so I hope that it gets done quickly... assuming he wants to leave PSG, who are a good team too.
"He's a very good player. For his young age, he can do everything. These are the players I like, who know how to play with one touch, agile, fast, efficient.
"We haven't played a lot together but in training we look for each other, it's easy. He knows how to play football and it's very important to have him."
Mbappe's future is a weird one. Real have spent so long planning to sign the 22-year-old and still feel confident of being able to get a deal done, despite PSG's continued public insistence that Mbappe is going to sign an extension.
PSG chairman Leonardo has vowed to keep Mbappe thousands of times, and president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has also publicly guaranteed that the forward will stay at the Parc des Princes - but getting his signature is proving a little harder than expected.
"For me, Kylian is a PSG player and will be a PSG player. I am not worried," Al-Khelaifi told Canal+ (via AS). "Do not worry, let us work.
"Mbappe is Parisian. He is French, he is Parisian, he is under contract and he wants to stay 100%. He's not going anywhere. We are not blocked at all. We are really calm, very relaxed."
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This article was originally published on 90min as Karim Benzema urges Kylian Mbappe to join Real Madrid.
Source: www.90min.com