When Kylian Mbappe left Paris St-Germain (PSG) last summer, fans anticipated a clean break after a protracted transfer saga. Instead, a legal dispute has simmered, revealing the complexities of modern football contracts and player-club dynamics.
The Financial Fallout
At the heart of this conflict is Mbappe’s claim for 55 million euros (£46.3 million) in unpaid wages. This sum was recently frozen from PSG’s accounts by a Paris court, indicating the seriousness of the matter. The dispute centers around a controversial contract extension signed in 2022, which Mbappe later indicated he did not intend to honor.
The Contract Controversy
Mbappe’s contract extension, celebrated with a photo-op featuring club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, included a crucial detail: an optional third year. This option became a flashpoint when Mbappe sent a letter, dated shortly after his signing, expressing his intention not to activate it. The timing of this letter, only reaching PSG management in June 2023, has fueled tensions.
The Market Maneuvering
Faced with the prospect of losing their star player for free, PSG offered Mbappe two choices: leave immediately or negotiate terms that would mitigate the financial consequences of his eventual departure. Notably, he rejected a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia, signaling his desire to move to Real Madrid instead.
The Loft and the “Gentlemen’s Agreement”
As the 2023-24 season approached, Mbappe found himself in the “loft,” a term for players training away from the main squad—a move often criticized but legally sanctioned under France’s Charter for Professional Football. PSG asserts that a “gentlemen’s agreement” was reached, allowing Mbappe to return to the first team after missing the pre-season tour. However, Mbappe’s public statements suggest a different interpretation, highlighting the ambiguity that often shrouds verbal agreements in football.
The Future Unwritten
As he prepared for his departure, Mbappe emphasized the protective nature of the agreement reached with Al-Khelaifi, leaving fans and pundits questioning the clarity of their understanding. His eventual announcement of leaving PSG was overshadowed by the club’s title celebrations, a bittersweet farewell for a player who scored 256 goals in his tenure.
Conclusion
The ongoing legal battle between PSG and Mbappe illustrates the intricate and often tumultuous relationships between elite players and their clubs. As both parties navigate this dispute, it raises fundamental questions about contractual obligations, player rights, and the future landscape of football transfers. With so much at stake, the court’s decision could have lasting implications for both Mbappe’s career and the financial fabric of PSG.
PSG fans greeted Mbappe with a tifo before his final game for the club
‘An era-defining week awaits PSG’
The striker’s legal team, however, now assert that the “gentleman’s agreement” is invalid as the additional clause was never signed.
As a result, they are claiming Mbappe is owed 55m euros – a sum made up of the final third of his signing-on fee and three months’ worth of wages which were unpaid.
They argue that a written contractual amendment would have had to be signed and submitted to the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) – the governing body for France’s two professional divisions – for the change to be valid, and that no “tangible proof” of an agreement has been presented.
Mbappe brought the case to the LFP, whose disciplinary commission initially issued a non-binding ruling that PSG were to pay the sum.
It later deemed itself to have no jurisdiction over the matter because of an ongoing civil court case, which the player’s team claims was only launched by PSG against the LFP “in order to avoid disciplinary action”.
In February, the French Football Federation (FFF) dismissed Mbappe’s subsequent appeal on the same grounds.
Speaking to BBC Sport, a lawyer with knowledge of PSG’s case explains that the LFP’s decision came from the fact that it could make a judgement based on the original contract – “but what’s being debated is whether it was amended”.
In December, following the LFP’s latest decision, a club spokesperson reiterated that Mbappe had “made clear public and private commitments that the club simply asks to be honoured”, and that PSG remained hopeful of “an amicable solution”.
The club also claimed that Mbappe refused the LFP’s offer for mediation.
Last month, Mbappe’s lawyers held a press conference to announce they had “gone on the attack”, having notably obtained the seizure of the 55m euros from PSG’s accounts through a court decision.
They also indicated that they were filing a complaint claiming PSG put pressure on Mbappe to renew, which the club denies, and that they had sent a letter to the FFF asking them to notify Uefa on the situation.
In a hearing on Monday, after PSG contested the precautionary seizure, the club announced that a counterclaim for 98m euros (£82.6m) in damages would be brought forward as part of their wider case.
In their court submission, the club’s lawyers asserted that the counterclaim was prompted by Mbappe’s “deceptive behaviour during negotiations to revise his contract”.
The striker’s team, meanwhile, reiterated that despite the counterclaim there was “no legal basis for deferring payment of the sum due”.
“The aim is not to recover the 98m euros, but rather to show that if he owes us money, his claim is unfounded,” PSG lawyer Renaud Semerdjian told the AFP.
For the club, the standoff also represents a reversal in the days where player power reigned supreme – the new-look (albeit still as spendthrift) PSG styles itself as a project built around a collective unit rather than individual talents.
Mbappe’s team, meanwhile, claimed in their April press conference that it was PSG who had put him under pressure to re-sign back in 2023 through “scandalous and indecent practices”, and that they would be joining the players’ union in its legal action against the “lofts”.
A decision on the seizing of the club’s accounts is expected on 26 May – the same day as a separate hearing on the wider case, in which the French football authorities initially dismissed Mbappe’s appeals.
While the 26-year-old will have wrapped up his maiden season in Spain the previous evening, Paris St-Germain will be in the midst of a week bookended by the Coupe de France and Champions League finals.
It could be an era-defining week both on and off the pitch for the Parisians.
