In the World Cup in Qatar, Argentina led by Messi and the French team with Mbappe as the core played a strong match, and Messi and Mbappe also played for Paris Saint-Germain FC at the same time, being teammates and opponents. In the final, Argentina led three times before being equalised by a hat-trick by Kylian Mbappe and forced the game into a penalty shootout. Argentine goalkeeper Martin also exceeded the interception task, and finally won the World Cup and lifted the Hercules Cup with a penalty shootout.
After the World Cup, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar returned to Paris to train for the next Ligue 1 and Champions League matches. However, in the match between Ligue 1 and Strasbourg, Neymar turned red twice and was banned for one game, and then Mbappe as the main player of the team also lost against Lens, at this time Messi returned to Paris from Argentina and scored a clean sheet against Angers Messi.
At this time, everyone was still immersed in the joy of Messi's return to score a goal on his debut, but against Rennes, who finished fourth in the Ligue 1 standings, Messi, Neymar and Mbappe combined but failed to score a goal and were kept clean sheets by their opponents. This also caused dissatisfaction among many French media.
Some journalists even said that Neymar is the biggest failure in football history, preparing for the World Cup and performing well for half a season, and now such a performance is not worthy of high transfer fees and high salaries. And also commented that Messi did not actively participate in training after the World Cup, made some low-level mistakes that he would not normally make, and Messi who performed in the World Cup was the same as the two.
The "Team Newspaper" gave Neymar 3 points, and Messi only had 4 points. And claimed that if the two behaved like this, then against the strong opponent Bayern, there would be no chance of victory. In this winter window, news about whether Neymar will leave the team and whether Messi will renew his contract continues to emerge. According to relevant sources: Messi has completed a verbal agreement with Paris, only some details need to be agreed, and Messi will also complete the contract signing in the near future.
Messi renewed his contract, putting forward the conditions that hope Paris can keep Neymar, the first is that Neymar has not expired, and these two good brothers in the forward line can also cooperate perfectly, after all, these two people are linked, and they have indeed created too many wonderful goal moments for everyone. But everyone also knows that the relationship between French football titan Kylian Mbappe and Neymar is not optimistic. So if Neymar stays with Messi, will Mbappe transfer?
But according to an inside source in Paris: "The only Real Madrid who can get him out of the club here." Nothing is impossible in football, but we can ask for 400 million euros ($431 million; £352 million) without even putting a price tag on him. "It means that if someone offers a high enough price, then Mbappe will definitely leave, and Paris, looking at the face of high prices, will also consider letting Mbappe leave, and the team that can let Mbappe choose, and hope to join, can only be Real Madrid."
If Real Madrid pay enough transfer fees, and Mbappe also successfully signs a transfer, then this can make Messi and Neymar happy enough, if Paris get a high transfer fee, strengthen the midfield, replace two fulcrum type strong centers, with the tacit understanding of Neymar and Messi, the two people's organizational tandem ability, maybe can lead Paris to higher honors.
And now three superstars are on the field at the same time, coupled with the weakness of the midfield, it is necessary for Messi and Neymar to play in the position of backback. As the so-called "more horns do not make a play", on the contrary, it has caused unsatisfactory results. But it doesn't just take a game or two to tell what tactics Paris will arrange. Whether it is to weaken Messi's attacking ability, with Mbappe as the team's big heart, or whether there is some other arrangement, it is unknown.
Finally, according to Mario Cortegana, a reporter from The Athletic, "Some voices within Paris today say that since Mbappe's return to the team after the World Cup, Mbappe is full of excitement and motivation for the team's future performance. The fact that Mbappe now plays more on the left side than in the fulcrum position has had an impact on him as well. But Kylian Mbappe's departure in January is not going to happen, and the summer window is not necessarily. And Paris have shown that there is no need to use transfer players for gain. But Paris realised that Mbappe had not forgotten his dream of playing for Real Madrid, and that there were sometimes tensions between the club and the players. ”
In any case, the result now is that Messi is almost certain to renew his contract in Paris. Mbappe will not be able to leave the team for a while, so it depends on Neymar's movements. But if Neymar does leave, how long can Messi stay in Paris? If Mbappe leaves, can Messi and Neymar stay and lead Paris to better results? Everything is unknown, but the result seen so far is that the three people do not have a perfect formation to create the iron triangle, and one person will always leave. If Real Madrid can really offer an olive branch at a high price, Mbappe could also be the one leaving. That's a matter of time.