Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 7y

Monaco owner won't block Kylian Mbappe and other stars leaving

Monaco's billionaire owner Dmitri Rybolovlev has told L'Equipe he will not stop any of the club's players leaving if they ask to go this summer and said the market will decide Kylian Mbappe's price tag.

Mbappe's emergence in Monaco's successful Ligue 1 title challenge and their run to the Champions League semifinals this season has left many of Europe's biggest clubs reportedly interested in signing the 18-year-old this summer.

Fabinho, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Bernardo Silva and Radamel Falcao have also been touted as potential summer departures from the Stade Louis II, with the first three reportedly interesting Premier League clubs and Falcao mooted as a recruit for Chinese sides.

With Mbappe being talked up as commanding a world-record transfer fee and the other four likely to bring Monaco a huge windfall, the Ligue 1 champions could be tempted to part ways with their biggest assets.

Rybolovlev, who bought a controlling 66.6 percent stake in the club in 2011 when they were in Ligue 2, said the players and coach Leonardo Jardim will decide their own future.

"We're not here to decide for men, to block them, to tell them 'Yes' or 'No,'" he said. "We don't have a budget problem and we're not obliged to sell them, but the day when a player or coach wants to leave, it's unimaginable that we will keep them against their will. We're not Real Madrid, nor Barcelona, nor Manchester United.

"Everyone has a step up to make in their career. You don't keep a man against his will. In business, if you go against the market and the trends, you're going to lose. Having said that, if someone leaves, it won't be because of us. You know, [Anthony] Martial, he wanted to leave [for United] and you can understand that."

"We can't foresee anything. We don't know how the situation will evolve, but we're calm. We never go against the trends, against the tide, and we never force things. Let's see how the situation develops."

Rybolovlev refused to put a price tag on Mbappe.

"I don't know, it's the market that decides, and it'll depend who's ready to invest in him," he said. "In any case, it's more the player's decision than the club's."

Falcao scored a team-high 21 league goals for Monaco this season as he rediscovered the form that he lost during two loan spells with Manchester United and Chelsea.

The Colombia international has just 12 months left on the five-year deal he signed when he moved to the Principality in 2013, but earlier this month he told L'Equipe he hoped to prolong his stay at the Stade Louis II.

Rybolovlev said the club and the player would need to reach an agreement, even if he acknowledged it will be the former Porto and Atletico Madrid forward who will have the final say on his future.

"Both [will decide on a contract extension], but in the end it will be rather him," he said. "You know, it's their life, it's their career. You don't keep a player who wants to leave."

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