Kylian Mbappe saga overshadows PSG's latest new era under Luis Enrique

New coach, fresh ructions in the squad and the usual title to defend. When Paris Saint-Germain begin their competitive season on Saturday at home to Lorient, it can hardly be with clear, focused minds.

France’s Ligue 1 automatically installs them as favourites to collect a 10th title in 12 years, but finds itself most intrigued by the various confrontations between PSG’s dressing-room and boardroom.

Chief among them, the Kylian Mbappe stand-off, a soap opera previously rehearsed two summers ago when he was subject of a vast bid from Real Madrid; PSG turned that one down, later making Mbappe the best-paid footballer in the world.

This summer’s impasse has Mbappe refusing to renew that contract, PSG alarmed he could leave for free when his deal expires next June and convinced he has a private arrangement with Madrid for 2024 – or sooner if Madrid show a willingness to pay PSG €150 million-plus before the end of August.

Mbappe has been training apart from the first team. His employers have effectively put him up for sale. Unless there is a sudden thawing of relations, he is not in contention to start against Lorient, as PSG begin yet another "new era" with Luis Enrique, the former Barcelona and Spain head coach, making his bow on a Ligue 1 touchline.

The Spaniard, a successor to Christophe Galtier and appointed barely a year after Mauricio Pochettino departed, has an authoritarian streak, which should suit a club where players flex their muscles ostentatiously and where the president, Nasser Al Khelaifi, routinely insists the indulgences of superstars must be curbed.

Mbappe’s exclusion from the club’s pre-season tour of Asia and from main training sessions were designed to demonstrate that. So was the fine and suspension