Paris Saint-Germain have reportedly set their asking price for Kylian Mbappe after Real Madrid stepped up their attempts to sign the young star.
Real have always coveted the signing of Mbappe, with club president Florentino Perez desperate to make him a classic Galactico player.
PSG have embarked on a recruitment spree this summer, bringing in Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Gini Wijnaldum, Sergio Ramos and Achraf Hakimi and hoped to tie Mbappe down to a new contract.
However, the 22-year-old has entered the final 12 months of his deal and appears unlikely to renew his terms with the French giants.
That has opened the door for Real, who have tried to sign the youngster on two separate occasions and are now determined to make it third time lucky.
According to ESPN , Perez has made his first move, bidding £137m (€160m) for Mbappe’s services.
That opening offer was ‘immediately rejected’ by PSG, but after stonewalling Real previously, the Parisian club ‘have finally shown a willingness to negotiate’.
With Mbappe not keen on signing a new contract, PSG have for the first time entertained the prospect of selling one of their star players, but they will only do so if their valuation is met.
The report states that Real would have to raise their offer to £171m (€200m) in order to have a chance of completing the signing before the deadline on August 31.
Mbappe joined PSG from Monaco in August 2017 on an initial loan deal, which was made permanent for a fee of £160m (€180m).
He has gone on to score 112 goals in 122 appearances for the club and form a deadly partnership with Neymar up front.
However, with his contract running down and Messi arriving upon the expiry of his contract with Barcelona, Mbappe’s future has been thrown into greater doubt.
Mbappe has come close to joining Real twice in the past, having gone on trial at the club aged 13 in 2012 and almost opted to join them from Monaco instead of PSG.
Like all clubs, Real have been hit financially by the coronavirus pandemic, but are still in a position to bid for Mbappe.
That is because they have not made a first-team signing in the past two years and have pulled in valuable cash through the sales of Raphael Varane and Martin Odegaard this summer.
Varane was sold to Manchester United for an initial fee of £34m, which could rise to £43m, while Odegaard joined Arsenal for £30m, plus £4m in add-ons.