Kylian Mbappe says 'merci' to announce his Paris Saint-Germain run will end this month

Soccer star Kylian Mbappe released a lengthy statement Friday, formally confirming that his seven-year stint with Paris Saint-Germain will come to an end later this month.

Mbappe – a 2018 World Cup champion with France and arguably the biggest soccer star in the world not named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo – is widely expected to join Real Madrid later this summer.

Mbappe, 25, said Sunday’s PSG match against Toulouse will be his final home game. His last game with PSG will be against Lyon in the French Cup final on May 25.

“Hi everyone. It’s Kylian. I wanted to speak with you. I’ve always said that I would speak with you when the time comes, and so I wanted to announce to you all that it’s my last year at Paris Saint-Germain, and the adventure will come to an end,” Mbappe said in a nearly four-minute video on social media, expressing gratitude to PSG coaches, sporting directors and fans.

“I will play my last game at the Parc des Princes on Sunday. It’s a lot of emotions, many years where I had the chance and the great honor to be a member of the biggest French club, one of the best in the world, which allowed me to arrive here to have my first experience in a club with a lot of pressure to grow as a player by being alongside some of the best in history, some of the greatest champions, to meet a lot of people and to grow as a man as well with all the glory and the mistakes I’ve made.”

Mbappe also reiterated the difficulty in leaving the club and his country for a new ambition at this stage of his career.

“Despite everything that can happen on the outside, all this media hype that surrounds the club sometimes, there are some real club lovers who want to protect it and make it shine and it’s great and to know that with all these people, this club is in great hands,” Mbappe said.

“It’s hard, and I never thought it would be this difficult to announce that, to leave my country, France, the Ligue 1, a championship I have always known but I think, I needed this, a new challenge, after seven years.”

Mbappe has won seven Ligue 1 titles (one with Monaco and six with PSG), and has been Ligue 1’s top scorer for six straight seasons. His 255 goals rank first in PSG history.

Mbappe has also shined for France on the international stage, scoring four goals in seven games as a 19-year-old during the 2018 World Cup, where he joined Pele as the only teenagers to score in a World Cup final in a 4-2 win over Croatia.

Mbappe also became the second player to record a hat trick in a World Cup final (England’s Geoff Hurst, 1966), but France ultimately fell to Messi and Argentina after penalty kicks in 2022.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kylian Mbappe won't extend his Paris Saint-Germain deal