Kylian Mbappe bid farewell to Paris Saint-Germain with a lavish party for 250 guests at a stylish Italian restaurant on Monday night.
The French star’s PSG team-mates, club staff and friends gathered at Gigi, a venue inspired by Venetian palaces located a short walk from the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe.
Although French president Emmanuel Macron – who has forged close links to Mbappe – was on the guest list, newspaper reports said he didn’t attend the party.
Mbappe, 25, who has scored 256 goals in 307 matches over seven seasons at the Parc des Princes, confirmed his departure – most likely to Real Madrid – on May 10.
His mother and agent, Fayza Lamari, teased journalists who’d gathered outside the venue by saying ‘you already know, right?’ when asked about her son’s next club.
Le Parisien reported that the majority of the PSG squad attended, with Danilo Pereira and Nuno Mendes the first to arrive before Mbappe made his entrance at around 7.30pm accompanied by his brother Ethan.
Other team-mates including Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembele, Goncalo Ramos, Achraf Hakimi and Milan Skriniar arrived shortly afterwards.
Lucas Hernandez, who will miss Euro 2024 with France after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, arrived at the restaurant on crutches.
The arrival of 18-year-old French star Warren Zaire-Emery at around 10pm caused the most commotion, newspaper reports said.
PSG’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi was not present having reportedly had a bust-up with Mbappe after he announced his departure from the club.
Le Parisien said Lamari took a few questions from a scrum of journalists outside when she departed at 11.30pm, appearing to confirm without actually saying that Mbappe is Madrid-bound.
The main man emerged smiling at around 12.15am and was greeted by fans chanting his name before being rushed away in a black van.
Gigi boasts an interior design featuring yellow Siena marble and a panoramic roof terrace offering views of all the Parisian landmarks.
Mbappe, who has scored 44 goals this season, hasn’t been in the PSG squad for the Ligue 1 matches against Nice and Metz in recent days.
He may sign off in this Saturday’s French Cup final against Lyon, which is being played in Lille.
Mbappe signed off at PSG by winning the league title for the seventh time in his career but they fell short again in the Champions League by losing to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals.
After this weekend, Mbappe will turn his focus to captaining France at the European Championship in Germany.
They play warm-up friendlies against Luxembourg on June 5 and Canada on June 9 before opening their group stage campaign against Austria on June 17.
