Kylian Mbappé wins French league ruling for $61 million in unpaid wages from PSG
Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe warms up for the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Betis at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Pablo Garcia)
The French league’s legal commission has ordered Paris Saint-Germain to pay Kylian Mbappé the 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages that he claims he’s entitled to, the league said Thursday.
The league confirmed the decision to The Associated Press without more details, a day after the France superstar rejected a mediation offer by the commission in his dispute with his former club.
PSG officials and Mbappé’s representatives met in Paris on Wednesday after Mbappé asked the commission to get involved. Mbappé joined Real Madrid this summer on a free transfer.
After the meeting, Mbappé’s representatives told the AP that the France striker had asked the commission to take note of the non-payment of three months’ salary and the last third of a loyalty bonus.
PSG does not intend to pay and announced that it will take further legal action.
“In light of the limitations of the commission’s legal scope to take a complete decision on this matter, the matter must now be contested in another legal forum, to which Paris Saint-Germain is delighted to present all the facts over the coming months and year,” the club said in a message to the AP.
PSG has argued that it does not owe money to the World Cup winner under an agreement when Mbappé was sidelined ahead of the 2023-24 season — following his decision not to prolong his contract with the club — with the player allegedly stipulating that he would relinquish bonuses over his reintegration into the team.
“As a matter of law and fact, the player has made clear, repeated public and private commitments that must be respected, having been afforded unprecedented benefits by the club over seven years in Paris,” PSG said after the league’s announcement. “And the club looks forward to these being upheld in the proper forum, if the player seeks to pursue this incomprehensibly reputationally damaging matter further, in due course.”
Mbappé’s relationship with PSG ended amid deep tensions during his final season at the club.
PSG felt let down by Mbappé after offering him the most lucrative contract in the club’s history when he signed a new contract in 2022. But Mbappé was frustrated because he felt promises to sign key players were not kept. When he signed the new deal, he was paraded in front of fans holding up a jersey with 2025 on it. Mbappé was reportedly annoyed about this because the contract was until 2024 with the option for an extra season.
Mbappé stunned PSG in June last year by informing the club he would not take the option for an extra year. With his contract effectively into its final year, it put PSG in the position of needing to sell Mbappé to avoid losing him for free when the contract expired.
His PSG career could have ended in the summer of 2023 amid a tense transfer standoff. After telling the club he would not extend his contract for an extra year, Mbappé was left off a preseason tour to Japan and South Korea and forced to train with fringe players. PSG said it would rather sell him than let the player leave for free in 2024, but he rejected a 300 million euro move to Saudi team Al-Hilal.
PSG left Mbappé out of the team’s opening league game of that season as the standoff continued but eventually let him return to the lineup after “constructive and positive talks” between the two parties, PSG said at the time.
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