Paris St Germain have granted superstar striker Kylian Mbappe permission to talk to Al Hilal after the Saudi Arabian club submitted a world-record £259million offer, the PA news agency understands.

The 24-year-old has not signed a one-year extension to his existing PSG deal, meaning he will be a free agent next summer and able to walk away for nothing.

The player, who starred in France’s 2018 World Cup success and again as Les Bleus reached the final in Qatar last year, was left out of PSG’s squad for a pre-season tour of Japan.

That move by PSG made it clear to other clubs the player was available for sale this summer, sparking Al Hilal’s gigantic 300m euro bid.

Sources close to the French club say there has also been interest in the player from other clubs in recent days, including Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham, Inter Milan and Barcelona.

If the deal for Al Hilal was completed, it would smash the world transfer record fee paid by PSG to Barcelona for Neymar in 2017, which was reported at £200m at the time.

PSG are understood to be certain that Mbappe has agreed a free transfer to Real Madrid next summer, with Parisian sources saying he would benefit from a 160m euro (£138m) signing-on fee if he wound down his existing contract and moved to the Spanish capital in 2024.

A sale this summer would enable PSG to secure a return on their investment in Mbappe, who they signed for 180m euros from Monaco and retained last summer on a lucrative new contract amid earlier interest from Real.

The ball is now firmly in Mbappe’s court to make a decision on his future.

Al Hilal are one of four Saudi Pro League clubs who are now majority-owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), a sovereign wealth fund with assets under management reportedly worth over £500billion.

The club – along with three others under majority control by the PIF – have invested heavily in the European transfer market already this summer but the acquisition of Mbappe, who is arguably the best player on the planet at the current time, would be the biggest statement of Saudi Arabian strength yet.

Meanwhile, NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo has offered himself as an alternative to the Frenchman in a tongue-in-cheek Twitter post, saying: “Al Hilal you can take me. I look like Kylian Mbappe”, to which the man himself replied with a series of crying with laughter emojis.