LaLiga chief launches attack on PSG and Kylian Mbappe again

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By Martin Graham | 28th Oct 2022

Months after Kylian Mbappe’s big reveal that he would remain at Parc De Princes with Paris Saint-Germain and the vitriol that followed, LaLiga president Javier Tebas has relaunched his attacks on the club and player again.

The French champions are believed to have broken several financial fair play rules in crafting the 23-year-old forward’s new contract. Mbappe is reported to be earning £650,000-a-week alongside other bonuses that roughly takes his earnings up to £900,000-a-week.

It is believed that this action, alongside state influence from France and Qatar, led to Mbappe, who was on the verge of swapping France for Spain to play for Real Madrid, led to PSG being able to keep the 2018 World Cup winner.

The calls for PSG to be punished have since died down but recent reports suggest that Tebas, whose voice was the loudest at the time, is not willing to back down. The LaLiga boss is reported to have reiterated his desire to see ‘PSG punished for breaking the ecosystem of football’. He has also called on UEFA to dish out sanctions to the club for their frivolous use of finances, as many of their players are on mega-money contracts.

Mbappe alone, however, will cost PSG around £650 million to maintain in the duration of his three-year contract.

Tebas followed up his letter to UEFA with a recent interview with Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo that PSG deserved ‘immediate sanctions’ because’10 million euros for PSG and its president (Nasser Al-Khelaifi) is like a cup of coffee.’

The interview is on the back of his lawsuit which was successful in freezing tens of millions of assets belonging to beIN Media Group, the broadcast arm of PSG owners Qatari Sports Investments (QSI), who also happen to be LaLiga’s biggest broadcasting partner.

Tebas claimed that beIN were delaying in their payment of broadcast royalties to LaLiga because PSG’s chairman Al-Khelaifi, who also happens to be the chairman of QSI, was trying to frustrate him to drop his criticism of the French club.

Mbappe, meanwhile, continues to enjoy life at PSG playing alongside former LaLiga stars Lionel Messi and Neymar, with whom he has formed the world’s most lethal attacking trio.

They recently ran out 7 – 2 winners when they hosted Israeli club Maccabi Haifa in the UEFA Champions League. Mbappe and Messi got two goals each, while Neymar got one in the rout.

Messi’s contract with the Parisian club is up at the end of the season and a return to LaLiga is an option. However, Tebas may find himself in another battle as PSG are reported to be preparing another mega-money deal to keep Messi at the club for two more years.