Real Madrid deny reports that they have agreed a world record deal for Kylian Mbappe

Forget all that talk of Neymar to Real Madrid (for now, at least).

Days on from releasing an official statement to deny reports in Spain that they had tabled a bid for the Brazilian, it's now being reported Real have agreed a world-record fee for his Paris Saint-Germain teammate, Kylian Mbappe. The claim comes from French journalist Baptiste Ripart - the man responsible for breaking news of Antoine Griezmann's contract renewal at Atlético Madrid and their signing of Thomas Lemar. Ripart has tweeted that Real are willing to fork out €272m (nearly £240m) for Mbappe, the fee to be paid in four instalments. https://twitter.com/RipartBaptiste/status/1014153715006271489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1014153715006271489&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.as.com%2Fen%2F2018%2F07%2F04%2Ffootball%2F1530697245_132729.html A report in AS also adds that potential problems for PSG with Uefa's Financial Fair Play regulations and the possible sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus could put the European champions in a strong position to sign the 19-year-old, who was thought to be close to joining them from AS Monaco last summer. However, Madrid came out later on Wednesday and denied any suggestion they were about to sign the French forward. A statement on their website reads:

"Given the information published in the last few hours regarding an alleged agreement between Real Madrid C.F. and PSG for the player Kylian Mbappé, Real Madrid would like to state that it is completely false. Real Madrid has not made any offer to PSG or the player and condemns the spreading of this type of information that has not been proven by the parties concerned."

Mbappe has been one of the stars of the World Cup, his performance for France against Argentina in the last-16 one of the stand-out individual displays of the tournament so far.