Paris Saint-Germain are one of 10 clubs to be fined for breaching UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules for the 2020-21 season.
Fellow French clubs Monaco and Marseille are also on the list of fines, alongside Italian quartet Juventus, AC Milan, Inter and Roma, Besiktas of Turkey and Belgian club Anderlecht. Alongside being fined, the clubs will be warned of more severe sanctions if they breach break-even rules again within a fixed period. No clubs from the Premier League or La Liga are included in that period of sanctions.
The sanctions come after – but relate to seasons before – PSG striker Kylian Mbappe opted to sign a three-year contract extension with the Ligue 1 champions earlier this year, keeping him in the French capital until 2025. That made the Frenchman the best-paid player in world football and came less than a year after the French club rejected a world record transfer offer from Real Madrid for the striker.
Mbappe is now earning £42.5million (€50m) per annum, which is in addition to his bonus of £153million (€180m) for staying at the Parc des Princes, where he now also has 100 per cent control of his image rights.
Previous to that new deal, his PSG teammate Lionel Messi was the best-paid player in the world. The Argentine’s first year in Paris saw him take home an annual salary of £25.5million (€30m), although this increased to £34million (€40m) for his current and final year of his two-year deal in Paris. It is claimed that Messi has received more than €1,000m throughout his career – more than any other player.
Messi’s former club Barcelona are not among the clubs that have agreed settlements with UEFA over the fines but they are likely to be fined for the 2021-22 campaign, which saw the Catalan giants accumulate even more losses. UEFA’s FFP ruling only permits clubs to make €30million (£25.9million) worth of losses over three years.
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If sanctioned clubs fail to adhere to the rules and improve their situation over the next three years, then the penalties are expected to become harsher – including potential exclusion from UEFA competitions, such as the Champions League. Clubs had the option to contest the decisions and file an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
PSG are said to consider the findings of the report unfair and have claimed that the debacle of the Mediapro broadcasting rights has skewed their financial situation. They have also highlighted how the tax burden for top-flight French clubs is higher than in other top leagues.
The Parisian club enjoyed another busy summer transfer market; signing Portugal international midfield duo Renato Sanches and Vitinha from Lille and Porto respectively, alongside midfielder Carlos Soler from Valencia. They have also added striker Hugo Ekitike from Reims and defender Nordi Mukiele from RB Leipzig, while Nuno Mendes’s loan move from Sporting CP has been made permanent.
