Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe will not be playing in the club's opening Ligue 1 game against Lorient on Saturday, according to Julien Laurens of ESPN.
The development comes amid a contract standoff after Mbappe refused to extend his contract beyond June 2024.
The 24-year-old's decision has led to PSG putting him up for sale this summer instead of losing him next year for free, receiving several bids, including a $332 million offer from Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal.
The latest update from football journalist Fabrizio Romano indicates that the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner has not changed his stand on refusing to renew.
Mbappe could be absent for every Ligue 1 PSG game in August against Lorient, Toulouse, and Lens as a punishment. He was also left out of the squad's pre-season tour in Japan.
The French club still hopes that Mbappe will change his mind with the massive pressure from fans in the country's capital.
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Mbappe is training with the 'loft' team
Mbappe is reportedly excluded from training with Luis Enrique's main PSG team during afternoons.
Instead, he has been relegated to train with the "loft" team, a group of fringe players and undesirables within the squad, which include Leandro Paredes, Georginio Wijnaldum, and Julian Draxler.
The so-called "B-team" has a different training schedule from the main team, taking the pitch in the morning.
Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol claimed that Mbappe told his teammates in the loft squad that they could beat Enrique's main team in any competitive setting.
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