La Liga club Real Madrid F Kylian Mbappé has instructed lawyers to “unleash a wave of legal action” to recover $62.48M the French football star “claims he is owed in unpaid wages and bonuses” by his former club, Ligue 1’s Paris Saint-Germain, according to Samuel Agini of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The dispute stems from Mbappé’s acrimonious 2024 move to Real Madrid, the “year after he was temporarily sidelined” by PSG, which he “alleges dropped him from the team after he refused to extend his contract at the club.” One of his lawyers, Delphine Verheyden, said that it was “time to go on the attack” against PSG, adding that a Paris civil court judge had granted an order to provisionally freeze $62.48M of the club’s assets. The legal campaign reveals the “deep acrimony that has built up between the captain of the French football team and PSG,” France’s pre-eminent club. PSG has said that Mbappé had “verbally agreed to forgo his wages.” While the club denies that it owes the money, a source said that it had set aside $62.48M “in case it is was ordered to pay.” Separately, Mbappé’s lawyers said that they were taking action against X and Meta in a “criminal court over allegedly defamatory social media posts about him and his mother that were linked to the stand-off over his pay” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 4/10).
NOT SURE WHY? REUTERS’ Julien Pretot reported that on Thursday, PSG said that it “continues to fail to understand” why Mbappé “is not taking his case to the labour chamber, which is the only court competent to settle the dispute between him and his former club.” The club added that “all the procedures” Mbappé’s lawyers have announced “only serve to delay the resolution of the dispute.” Mbappé’s lawyers on Thursday said that they “would submit their case before the labour chamber” (REUTERS, 4/10).
BRING ME MY MONEY: In N.Y., Tariq Panja noted the disagreement “provides a rare public glimpse of the global market for soccer talent, pitting one of the world’s most prominent and influential athletes against a small but powerful and resource-rich Persian Gulf country.” Qatar -- which owns and operates PSG owner Qatar Sports Investments -- has emerged over the past decade as one of the “biggest players in global sports.” Mbappé’s lawyers said that he was taking on PSG “not simply for personal gain but also to help lesser-known players who could find themselves in the same situation.” The saga also “underlines how reliance on personal relationships still dominates the soccer industry.” According to documents, Mbappé and his advisers had both spoken and put in writing an intention to agree to an amendment. But in the end, “none was signed” (N.Y. POST, 4/11).
