Monaco vice-president confirms Mbappe will be leaving

Kylian Mbappe is inching closer to the exit doors at Monaco after the club's vice-president admitted that the youngster wants to leave the club to further his development.

Mbappe has been linked with a move away from the French champions for the entirety of the transfer window, with Real Madrid, Arsenal, PSG and most recently Barcelona lining up for the 19-year-old.

Those speculations fuelled even more after French newspaper L'Equipe reported earlier this week that Mbappe handed in a transfer request to Monaco to try and push for a move to either Real Madrid or Barcelona. While Barcelona sees Mbappe as a direct replacement for Neymar, the young Frenchman has reportedly chosen to join Real Madrid.

Monaco's vice-president Vadim Vasilyev has now come on record to confirm those speculations. While he rubbished the reports of Mbappe's transfer request, he did admit that the player will leave.

Speaking to French newspaper AS after Monaco's first Ligue 1 match against Toulouse, in which they won 3-2 and Mbappe limped off with an injury, Vasilyev said: "He has never expressed a wish to leave us. We are, however, in conversation with him and contrary to what you may have seen in the press, it is not simply a case of money. It's more complicated than that. The player needs to move for the sake of sporting reasons."

It remains to be seen if there is enough time left in the transfer market for any club to tie up a deal for Mbappe.