Mbappé and PSG: The $800M battle over unpaid wages and moral harassment
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The legal dispute between Paris Saint-Germain and Kylian Mbappé escalated on Monday with both sides making colossal financial demands.
The France star forward and his former club are at odds over alleged unpaid wages, and the financial dispute was examined by an industrial court.
Mbappé, who did not attend the hearing, previously claimed he was owed 55 million euros ($63 million) by the reigning European champion. He now demands more than 260 million euros from the club, arguing that PSG owes him that money because his fixed-term contract should be reclassified as a permanent one. Such a reclassification would trigger compensation for unfair dismissal, unpaid wages, bonuses, and severance.
He also claims damages for moral harassment, undeclared work, and breaches of PSG’s duty of good faith and safety toward him.
“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,” the player’s advisers said in a statement.
PSG, meanwhile, is seeking a total of 440 million euros from the striker including 180 million euros for a “loss of opportunity” to complete his transfer since he left as a free agent after he declined a 300 million euros offer from Saudi club Al-Hilal in July 2023.
PSG said in a statement it also wants compensation for breaches of good faith in both negotiations and contract performance, as well as reputational and image damage.
A decision from the court is expected next month.
PSG argued that when Mbappé was sidelined before the 2023-24 season — following his decision not to extend his contract — there was a verbal agreement with him opting to relinquish bonuses in order to return to the team.
“Before the court, the club presented evidence showing that the player acted disloyally by concealing for nearly eleven 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.
“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.”
Mbappé‘s camp replied that PSG never produced any evidence of an agreement to waive these payments.
When he accused PSG of moral harassment, Mbappé denounced the ‘lofting’ he claimed to have been subjected to at the club. The word lofting is used in France to describe a practice that involves isolating a player from the main squad for sporting, administrative, or disciplinary reasons.
Mbappé was indeed unhappy with the way he was treated by the Ligue 1 club when he was sidelined before the 2023-24 season, following his decision not to extend his club contract.
Mbappé joined Real Madrid during the 2024 summer on a free transfer after scoring a club-record 256 goals in seven years at PSG, which won the Champions League without him this year.
His relationship with PSG ended amid deep tensions, as the club felt let down after offering him the most lucrative contract in club history when he signed a new contract in 2022.
Mbappé stunned PSG a year later 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 nothing when the contract expired. Mbappé had joined PSG from Monaco for 180 million euros in 2017.
After telling the club he would not extend, 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 euros move to Saudi Arabia team Al-Hilal.
PSG left Mbappé out of the opening league game of that season but he soon returned to the lineup following talks.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer