Mbappé rejects mediation offer in $60m dispute with PSG

AP:

KYLIAN MBAPPÉ is not ready to compromise with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

The France superstar rejected a mediation offer by the French football league’s legal commission yesterday in his dispute with his former club over wages and bonuses.

PSG officials and Mbappé’s representatives met in Paris after Mbappé asked the commission to get involved. Mbappé, who joined Real Madrid this summer on a free transfer, says PSG owes him 55 million euros (US$60 million).

In a statement to The Associated Press, Mbappé’s representatives said the player asked the commission to take note of the non-payment of three months’ salary and the last third of a loyalty bonus.

“The eventuality of a mediation was mentioned this morning,” the statement read. “This possibility was rejected during the meeting by the player’s representative. A mediation would be useless to record a lack of payment that would be seen from a simple analysis of the player’s payslip.”

PSG, which said it was pleased with the two-hour hearing at the commission on Wednesday, said in a statement it recalled that Mbappé had formerly made “clear, repeated public and private commitments that must be respected, having been afforded unprecedented benefits by the club over seven fantastic years in Paris”.

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.

“To avoid its payment obligation, the club seeks to demonstrate the existence of a secret agreement that would justify it. But the club fails to demonstrate the existence of such an agreement,” Mbappé’s representatives said.

PSG said that the league’s legal commission recommended “mediation between the parties”, which the club said it had been seeking for months.

The French league did not respond to a request for comments from the AP.

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 year.

Mbappé stunned PSG in June last year by informing the club that 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.