Eye-watering figures have been bandied around by both Kylian Mbappé and Paris Saint-Germain during a legal dispute which has ratcheted up since the case went to court this week.
Mbappé, who left PSG at the end of his contract to join Real Madrid in 2024, has been claiming unpaid wages for more than a year. After initially appealing for the €55 million ($63.8 million) he believed to be owed, the France captain is now demanding in excess of €260 million ($301 million) to compensate him for his wages, unfair dismissal and moral damage.
PSG, in turn, want €440 million from the club’s all-time top scorer, arguing that Mbappé’s alleged deception denied them a transfer fee and even inflicted reputational damage. In truth, this situation isn’t particularly flattering for either party.
Why Is Kylian Mbappe Suing PSG for $300 Million?
This controversy stems from a contract extension at PSG which Mbappé signed in May 2022. Despite what the shirt he held up at the presentation suggested, the deal was only valid for a guaranteed two years with the option for a third which could exclusively be triggered by the player himself.
As PSG were horrified to find, Mbappé did not stay for a third year, and instead left to join Madrid for free. However, the 26-year-old is still waiting for part of his salary from that final season in Paris.
Mbappé simply wants to be paid. “Kylian Mbappé is not asking for anything beyond what the law provides; he is simply seeking the enforcement of his legal rights, as any employee would,” a statement from the player’s advisers read.
The €55 million which the Frenchman was first requesting was frozen from PSG’s accounts in April by the courts but his demands have since quintupled. This stems from an attempt to reclassify his contract not as fixed-term but permanent, which would entitle him to wages, bonuses and unpaid severance.
Mbappé has also accused PSG of moral harassment after putting him in the “loft”—the French term for a group of players not used by a club—at the start of the 2023–24 season, once it became clear that he would not be signing a new deal or accept a move to any club other than Real Madrid. Luis Enrique eventually restored his forward to the starting XI, yet Mbappé’s team still brandished the practice as “scandalous and indecent.”
Why Are PSG Counter-Suing Mbappe?
When PSG received the letter from Mbappé’s team in June 2023 formally informing them that he had no intention to trigger another year’s extension, panic set in. The French giants held a hurried auction for their star forward, desperately trying to recoup some of the €180 million they spent to whisk him away from Monaco in 2017. Yet, Mbappé’s stance was clear: it was Real Madrid or nothing and he was prepared to wait until he became a free agent in summer 2024.
During this wild few weeks, it was reported that Mbappé rejected a €300 million offer from Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal. The funds from that failed sale are part of the €440 million which PSG are demanding from their former player, who has also been accused of breaching “good faith” and inflicting image damage.
This question of “good faith” is thought to stem from a “gentleman’s agreement” between Mbappé and PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi once it became clear that Mbappé would be in Paris for the 2023–24 campaign. The striker hinted as some arrangement in January 2024, when he told a mixed zone that “the agreement I reached with the president [Nasser Al-Khelaifi] last summer protects all the parties, regardless of my decision.”
Mbappé’s legal team have since claimed that any “gentleman’s agreement” is invalid.
The letter which PSG received in June 2023 revealing Mbappé’s intentions to leave in 2024 was dated in July 2022. PSG’s lawyers described the 11 intervening months as “deceptive behaviour” which prompted this lucrative counterclaim.
“Before the court, the club presented evidence showing that the player acted disloyally by concealing for nearly 11 months, between July 2022 and June 2023, his decision not to extend his contract, thereby depriving the club of any possibility of arranging a transfer,” PSG said in a statement this week.
“The player then challenged an agreement concluded with the club in August 2023, which provided for a reduction in salary should he decide to leave on a free transfer, in order to preserve the club’s financial stability following the exceptional investment made.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kylian Mbappe’s Legal Battle With PSG Threatening to Spiral Out of Control.
