Saudi Arabian football club Al-Hilal makes record €330 million bid for France striker Kylian Mbappe

After missing out on Lionel Messi, Saudi Arabian football team Al-Hilal made a record €300 million bid for Kylian Mbappe on Monday, an offer which could see the France striker join Cristiano Ronaldo in the oil-rich kingdom.

Paris Saint-Germain confirmed the offer for its player and has permitted Al-Hilal to open negotiations directly with Mbappe.

The 2018 World Cup winner is in a contract standoff with PSG after his decision not to take up the option of a 12-month extension on his deal. Instead, he plans to walk away as a free agent at the end of the upcoming season when he is widely expected to join Real Madrid.

Earlier this year, Al-Hilal failed to sign Messi, with the Argentina great choosing to join Inter Miami instead.

The bid for Mbappe would make him the most expensive football player in history, overtaking the €236.5 million PSG paid for Neymar, who joined from Barcelona in 2017.

Earlier this year, Al-Hilal failed in an attempt to sign Messi, with the Argentina great choosing to join Inter Miami instead.

The bid represents Saudi Arabia's most ambitious move yet as part of a determined recruitment drive to lure the game's biggest players to the country.

However, critics have dismissed the recent efforts as “sportswashing,” attempting to leverage professional sports to clean up the kingdom’s image as it remains one of the world’s top executioners and waging a yearslong war in Yemen.