Kylian Mbappé will make an incredible amount of money from the summer – at PSG, not in Spain. The Spanish league is stunned and announces steps against the French club.
Kylian Mbappé is one of football’s global superstars. The attacker became world champion with France in 2018, he refines advertising campaigns for big brands, he adorns the covers of computer games and from the summer he will be making an incredible amount of money than before. However, he will not do that at Real Madrid, as had been widely expected for months, but rather at Paris Saint-Germain. There the 23-year-old extends his contract and from now on will not only earn 50 million euros net until 2025, but apparently also receive a bonus of one hundred million euros.
And this package brings joy to Mbappé and the fans of the French Sheikh Club, but frustration and anger in Spain. The anger is so great that league boss Javier Tebas spoke of a “humiliation for Spanish football” in the afternoon – and then announced in the evening that he wanted to sue PSG. “LaLiga will file a lawsuit against PSG with UEFA, the French administrative and tax authorities and the European Union authorities to continue defending the economic ecosystem of European football and its sustainability,” read a statement released by the league tonight published.
For a long time it seemed clear that Mbappé would switch to the Champions League finalist on a free transfer in the summer after the deal failed to materialize in the winter. Now things are obviously different, and league boss Tebas had already announced that. And that stuns LaLiga, which is deprived of a huge attraction. “It is scandalous that a club like PSG, which posted losses of more than €220m last season after amassing losses of more than €700m in previous seasons (while posting dubious sponsorship earnings) , with a squad that will cost around €650m this season, can secure such an agreement, while clubs that could afford to sign the player without their payroll suffering cannot sign him.”
The background to the anger is clear: Due to the strict conditions of the league, which closely links the maximum costs of the squad to the economic performance of the clubs, FC Barcelona had to let superstar Lionel Messi go before the season. The clammy club could no longer afford the club saints who were actually willing to stay, PSG of all people secured the services of the multiple world footballer at the time.
The anger, especially at PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi, is great in Spain. “LaLiga and many European football institutions had hoped that after PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi joined the bodies of European football management such as the UEFA Executive Committee and the European Club Association (ECA) presidency, he would refrain from these practices, knowing that they do great harm.”
Paris Saint-Germain has been equipped with Qatari oil billions for eleven years, Qatar Sports Investments manages the fortunes of the club and has spent enormous sums on the rise of the former French middle-class club to a global brand. With Lionel Messi, Neymar and Mbappé, three of the most expensive football players in the world are currently playing for the Parisians. However, the noble squad is still unsuccessfully chasing the Champions League title.
LaLiga would like to point out, the statement said, “that this type of agreement threatens the economic stability of European football, putting hundreds of thousands of jobs and the integrity of the sport at risk, not only in European competitions but also in domestic leagues.”
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