Kylian Mbappe has told Paris Saint-Germain he will not take up the option of a one-year extension in his contract when it expires next June, according to reports from L’Equipe. Mbappe, a World Cup winner with France in 2018, confirmed his decision in a letter to the club and could even be sold this summer as PSG will seek to avoid losing him for free, according to the report. The forward would be free to negotiate and sign a pre-contract agreement with a new club from January should he decide to see out the remaining year of his deal at PSG. The French club, owned by Qatar Sports Investments, have already lost Lionel Messi on a free transfer after the Argentina forward left at the end of his two-year contract to join Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami. PSG have not responded to a request for comment. Mbappe was widely tipped to join Real Madrid last season but rejected a move to Spain to sign a contract extension with PSG. The 24-year-old has long been admired by Real, who had a bid reported to be as high as €200m turned down in 2021. Real, who have already agreed a deal to sign England midfielder Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund, could step up their interest in Mbappe following striker Karim Benzema’s move to Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia. However, Premier League clubs such as Manchester United and Man City will also likely assess their options and see if they can bring in one of the best players in the world. Mbappe, one of the game’s finest talents who burst onto the scene as a teenager, has won five Ligue 1 titles with PSG but the Champions League trophy has remained out of reach. PSG signed Mbappe from AS Monaco in 2017 in a deal reported to be around €180m, making him the world’s second-most expensive signing after Neymar, who joined them from Barcelona for €222m. Mbappe became PSG’s all-time top scorer after netting 41 goals in 43 games in all competitions and helped the capital club win a record 11th French title. He was named France captain after leading them to a second straight World Cup final in December, where he netted a hat-trick against Argentina before losing on penalties. Reuters Read More Lionel Messi to Inter Miami: Apple deal, MLS contract, salary, debut and everything we know How Jude Bellingham can become the anti-Haaland for Real Madrid Vinicius Jr needs protecting — or racism will drive him from La Liga

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Lionel Messi is the only footballer whose shadow carries a gun. While he plays for Inter Miami, his bodyguard stalks the touchline: Yassine Cheuko is an ex-Navy Seal with a thick beard and a shaved head who treats his client like a president in a warzone, staring down giddy autograph-hunters and swatting away selfie-chasing children. During a recent match, a young pitch-invader in a Messi shirt made a dash towards his hero only to be walloped by Cheuko’s torso on arrival. Messi is like the sun: by all means enjoy his presence and bask in his glow, but by god do not look him in the eye – and if you touch him, you’re dead. It is just one of the more bizarre symptoms of Messi fever which has gripped Miami and Major League Soccer since his arrival in June. It began before he kicked a ball: Messi’s pink shirt outsold any sports jersey in history in its first 24 hours, generating $600m to surpass Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United and Tom Brady’s move to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Miami’s Instagram account exploded from 1 million to 15 million followers, a bigger audience than every NFL team. Kim Kardashian bought tickets to his debut, while the list of special guests to watch him play at Los Angeles Galaxy was like Wimbledon’s Royal Box on steroids, featuring LeBron James, Selena Gomez, Owen Wilson, Gerard Butler, Leonardo DiCaprio and genuine royalty in Prince Harry, to name but a few. On the pitch Messi has been phenomenal, even at 36 years old and in the winter of his career: 11 goals and five assists in 11 games, and one trophy already. He has turned a terrible team into a good one, lifting Miami off the bottom of the table to be in with a chance of reaching US soccer’s Super Bowl equivalent, the MLS Cup, in December. He has brought with him from Barcelona two close allies: the left-back Jordi Alba, who built a career pretending to cross the ball only to cut back for Messi to score, and the great midfield conductor Sergio Busquets. It is a bit like a singer bringing along his sound and lighting technicians – not the full band but enough to put on a show. Perhaps his most memorable moment so far came in the final of the Leagues Cup against Nashville: as the ball bounced to Messi arriving on the edge of the box, the commentator let out a foreboding “uh oh” before he shuffled away from two defenders and curled the ball into the top corner. Major League Soccer is rightfully indulging in the moment. “The 🐐 plays here,” reads the Twitter bio these days. This is now an unprecedented window of opportunity: the US will host the Copa America in 2024, the Club World Cup in 2025, the men’s World Cup in 2026 and quite possibly the women’s World Cup in 2027 too. The football landscape is more competitive than ever amid the aggressive emergence of the Saudi Pro League and the greed of Europe’s superpowers, but if MLS cannot shed its image as a paid vacation for retirees and establish something serious now, it never will. That mission was part of Miami’s sales pitch to Messi. David Beckham and his fellow owners knew they couldn’t compete with the base salary being offered in Saudi Arabia, but they could offer other benefits which the Saudis couldn’t. They appealed to Messi’s family – he already owned a home in Miami, from where it is relatively easy to fly back to Argentina, and the Messis have enjoyed partying with the Beckhams behind the scenes. And they included huge commercial investments, like a share in sales of MLS broadcaster Apple, with whom Messi had an existing relationship, and a stake in Inter Miami which he can activate when he departs. Messi was convinced by the long-term opportunities for his brand and his legacy in North America. He was also wooed by some romantic history. Pele became a pioneer when he turned down offers across Europe to join the New York Cosmos in 1975. It had appealed to his ego to be the catalyst who made US soccer catch fire, and he was certainly that: the Cosmos played in front of 200 people before Pele, yet two years later they were filling the Giants Stadium with 77,000 converts. Beckham himself has had the greatest impact in America since Pele, and Messi is next in the dynasty. The problem for MLS is where to go next. Each new star since Beckham delivered another flurry of excitement – Thierry Henry, Kaka, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney – but there is no footballing high greater than watching Messi, no bigger dopamine hit than seeing his feet shuffle into life and create magic. Messi is football hedonism, and when he goes he cannot simply be replaced by a bigger, shinier star. The come down will hurt. How do you sell yourself as a serious sporting product when one player is that much better than the rest? So MLS has a plan to harness the hype and turn it into something that will last. Last year the league ditched long-term broadcast partner ESPN and signed with Messi’s friends at Apple, in what represented the tech company’s biggest step yet into the sports arena. Apple committed to a 10-year contract worth $250m per year for the right to show MLS on its platforms, and more lucrative media deals will follow. Long-time MLS commissioner Don Garber wants to invest in youth development, better stadiums and infrastructure for the long-term success of American soccer. But the league’s immediate need is to acquire talent, and here the clubs are met with restrictions. The MLS adheres to a strict salary cap designed to stop clubs overspending. It can be dodged via the designated player rule – or Beckham Rule – which allows each team to pay three star players more than the salary cap, but unless restrictions loosen further it will be impossible for the biggest teams in the league to sign more elite talent. Miami have certainly filled their quota and are in no position to sign more ex-Barcelona stars until those rules change. All the while, the danger is that Messi makes football look so easy, he undermines the league’s integrity. The drop-off from European football or the World Cup to MLS is a void – not just physically and technically, but in its tactical sophistication and defensive organisation. The worst MLS teams, of which Miami were one before Messi, match the upper echelons of England’s League Two, according to the models of consultancy Twenty First Group. That’s like dropping Messi into Gillingham’s first XI: how do you sell yourself as a serious sporting product when one player is that much better than the rest? It will be a hard journey to raise standards across the board, but Messi does at least provide the best possible platform from which to grow. Most European football fans have been devotees for a long time, but now the gospel of Messi is spreading throughout the United States. New followers are flocking to see him in the flesh. So enjoy watching Messi, America. Seize the moment. Just don’t try to touch him. Read More Every Lionel Messi goal, assist and key moment for Inter Miami Mbappe and Haaland begin new Champions League rivarly after Messi-Ronaldo era When does Lionel Messi play next? Inter Miami schedule and fixtures Cristiano Ronaldo declares rivalry with Lionel Messi ‘is over’ Messi favourite for men’s Ballon d’Or with four Lionesses on women’s list Julian Alvarez proves Man City’s man for all occasions as the unlikely No 10

A resurfaced clip of the makers of the first GTA game creating the fight scenes is going viral as it shows just how far the franchise has come since 1997. DMA Design Ltd, a Scottish company who created the first game were interviewed by the BBC, and the clip shows one of their employees punching the air while wearing pads to map it out for the animators. When describing how the game would look, they told cameras: "It's a mission-based driving game, where basically you're driving around the city, stealing cars, running over pedestrians... " Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Two Colorado gun control laws taking effect will require that firearm buyers wait three days before receiving their weapon and open up the gun industry to some legal liability

Maxwell Alejandro Frost has laughed off criticism after he yelled “F*** Ron DeSantis” while performing on stage at a Paramore concert on Friday night. The Florida congressman joined the rock band for a barnstorming rendition of their hit song “Misery Business”during a show at Capitol One Arena in Washington DC. Lead singer Hayley Williams asked if he had a message for the crowd as he took the stage, with the Gen Z Democrat lawmaker responding: “F*** Ron DeSantis! F** fascism!” When a clip of Mr Alejandro Frost’s outburst was posted to Twitter by the Conservative War Machine account, he replied “lol they’re so mad”. “I said what I said,” he wrote in another post. The 26-year-old shared several photos of himself with Williams onstage and after the show. “Very grateful for this moment. I’ve been practicing in the shower for YEARS,” he posted alongside a video of him rocking out with the band. Earlier this week Williams told fans during a performance at the Adjacent Music Festival in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that anyone who votes for Mr DeSantis is “dead” to her. “I’ll be happy to tell you I’m very f***ing comfortable talking politics,” Williams told the crowd. “If you vote for Ron DeSantis, you’re f***ing dead to me. Is that comfortable enough for anyone?” Mr DeSantis announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential primary last week. During a campaign event in South Carolina on Friday, a woman in the crowd shouted “You’re a f***ing fascist” at the Florida governor. Paramore’s This Is Why Tour continues in Cleveland on Sunday. Read More DeSantis news – live: Florida governor snaps at protester calling him ‘fascist’ in latest campaign outburst Paramore’s Hayley Williams says anyone who votes for Ron DeSantis is ‘dead to me’ Congressman walks out of House hearing after apologising to arrested Parkland parent DeSantis, Pence and other GOP 2024 hopefuls, but not Trump, set to appear at Iowa rally Trump’s classified papers scandal ramps up as he congratulates dictator - lates Ron DeSantis snaps back as heckler at campaign event calls him a ‘fascist’

The 2023/24 Premier League season is under way and you can follow every game and every goal right here with The Independent. This year sees Manchester City try to defend their crown and claim a historic fourth title in succession. Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering City, who also won the Champions League and FA Cup last season, will have to see off Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and the rest to claim an unprecedented sixth league title in seven years. Meanwhile Luton Town are making their first appearance in the Premier League, having risen from non-league in an incredible decade of progress. They followed Championship winners Burnley and second-placed Sheffield United in earning promotion to the top flight. Follow the latest action from the Premier League below.

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