Former Paris Saint-Germain and France striker Nicolas Anelka has told Kylian Mbappe that he will need to head for the Parc des Princes exit door if he wants to win the biggest honours.
The 22-year-old is yet to agree to an extension with Les Parisiens beyond 2022, as Liverpool and Real Madrid continue to be credited with an interest.
Anelka represented PSG in two separate spells - scoring 19 goals in 69 appearances for the club - but he believes that Mbappe must leave for the Premier League if he is to have a shot at Ballon d'Or glory.
The 42-year-old wrote for The Athletic: "You have at least two choices — stay in Paris or move to Real Madrid. Both of them can win the Champions League these days. When I was at PSG, that wasn't the case.
"That choice depends on what you want to achieve in football. If you want the biggest accolades, you will have to move from PSG at some point.
"Whatever you do in Paris will be good, but somebody will always say, 'Well, you did great for PSG but it was only in France. The best leagues are in England and Spain, so you didn't compete with the best players in the best league.'
"You will have to decide. If you want to win the Ballon d'Or, which is what you should be looking at to echo Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, you will have to compete with the best.
'You can't say you compete with the best all the time when you are at PSG. The French league is not easy, don't get me wrong, but I think the toughest league is in England.
"So, if you want to be one of the best, then do what you do in Paris but with Chelsea or United or Arsenal or Manchester City or Liverpool. Or go to Spain to Madrid or Barcelona. Or maybe Italy. Then we can speak about a more global impact."
Mbappe boasts a total of 132 goals in 171 games for PSG, but he failed to find the back of the net at Euro 2020 and missed the decisive penalty against Switzerland in the last 16.
Ben Knapton
