Mbappe ups stakes in bid to recoup $61m from PSG

PARIS — Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe on Thursday unleashed a legal offensive against Paris Saint-Germain in a bid to obtain the 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses he says his former club owes him.

The Judicial Court of Paris has given the green light for the funds to be seized from PSG and protectively frozen while the case is heard, his legal team said at a news conference.

A court hearing in the increasingly bitter dispute is scheduled for May 26.

The lawyers also announced that Mbappe would take his case to the labor court as part of a wider case brought by French players' union (UNFP).

The union lodged a complaint with the labor court a year ago, claiming players who refused to agree new contracts were being sidelined at their clubs, a practice Mbappe believes was employed against him when he was not selected by PSG at the start of the 2023-24 season.

"We're going on the attack," Mbappe's lawyer Delphine Verheyden said.

"This is just an employee against a bad payer," Verheyden added. "Kylian Mbappe is determined to enforce his rights, not just for himself, but for all the other players, who believe they have been wronged by their clubs."

Mbappe is also suing for defamation, targeting online stories that he claims were planted by PSG.

A PSG spokesperson dismissed the claims as "a fanciful tale from a parallel universe", but said the club would still like to find "an amicable solution".

A club official, speaking anonymously, told reporters that it had "no problem" in fighting the case at the labor court, and said Mbappe "is not going to win".

The origin of the dispute can be traced back to an agreement in August 2023, when Mbappe was frozen out of the PSG squad for refusing to extend his contract.

An extension would have allowed PSG to receive a transfer fee if Mbappe then departed before the end of his contract, but instead he left for nothing under freedom of contract rules and signed for Real in June 2024.

Under the agreement, Mbappe said he would waive 55 million euros in various bonuses if he departed for free at the end of last season. But, the validity of the agreement is contested by the player's entourage. They describe it as a "hidden agreement".

The sum Mbappe is claiming he is owed is comprised of the last third of a signing-on fee of 36 million euros, which he was supposed to receive in February, as well as his last three months' salary from last season and a bonus covering the same period.

PSG's owner Qatar Sports Investments has deep pockets, but regardless of whether it wins the case, the 55 million euros will be inaccessible until the case is resolved, which could take several years.

It is a considerable chunk of the 800-million-euro annual budget of the club, which has just secured its 11th French league title in 13 seasons, and is poised to reach the semifinals of the Champions League after its 3-1 quarterfinal first-leg win over Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Mbappe spent seven years at PSG, scoring 256 goals in 308 games.

AFP