Paris Saint-Germain’s deal with Kylian Mbappe is “an insult to football,” La Liga president Javier Tebas said Saturday after the player rejected an offer from Real Madrid.
“What PSG is doing by renewing Mbappe with large sums of money…after posting losses of 700 million euros in recent seasons and having a wage bill of over 600 million euros, is an INSULT to football,” Tebas tweeted.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi “is as dangerous as the Super League,” he added in a reference to a new competition with 12 of Europe’s biggest clubs proposed last April.
The project collapsed within days following a fierce backlash from their own players and fans, as well as governments and football’s governing bodies.
Tebas has fiercely opposed the creation of the breakaway league.
On Saturday, 23-year-old World Cup winner Mbappe agreed to stay at the French champions for another three years.
“I am very happy to stay in France, in Paris, in my city,” Mbappe told supporters on the Parc des Princes pitch before PSG faced Metz in their final Ligue 1 match of the season.
However, the mood in Spain was far from happy.
La Liga said they were filing a complaint against PSG with European governing body UEFA as well as the European Union.
“La Liga wishes to demonstrate that this type of agreement undermines the economic sustainability of European football, endangering hundreds of thousands of jobs in the medium term, and the sporting integrity, not only of European competitions, but also of our domestic leagues,” said La Liga in a press release.
Real Madrid fans were also bemused after the widely-hyped move collapsed.
“Now I don’t want him to come to Real Madrid anymore. It’s not worth it anymore,” David Pulido, a 42-year-old Real Madrid supporter, told AFP.
“Mbappe played on both fronts. First, he wanted to come to Madrid, and now for the money he stays at PSG. I have no interest in Mbappe anymore, I’m sorry. He’s a great player. I liked him at times, but not anymore. I don’t want him at Real Madrid.”
Spanish journalist Julio Maldonado added: “It’s all about the money. Mbappe used both Real Madrid and PSG to try to get a better contract. It’s as simple as that.”
The president of the Real Madrid supporters’ associations, Luis Caceres, told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope, that “Real Madrid have won 13 Champions Leagues without Mbappe. He will not be missed.”
La Liga’s statement:
“La Liga wishes to state that this type of agreement attacks the economic stability of European football, putting at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs and the integrity of the sport, not only in European competitions, but also in domestic leagues.
It is scandalous that a club like PSG, which last season reported losses of more than 220 million euros after accumulating losses of more than 700 million euros in prior seasons (while reporting sponsorship income at doubtful valuation), with a squad cost around 650 million for this season, can close such an agreement, while those clubs that could afford the hiring of the player without seeing their wage bill compromised, are left without being able to sign him.
La Liga will file a complaint against PSG before UEFA, the French administrative and fiscal authorities and European Union authorities to continue to defend the economic ecosystem of European football and its sustainability.
In the past La Liga has complained to UEFA for non-compliance with financial fair play by PSG. These complaints were successful and UEFA sanctioned the club, while the Court of Artbitration for Sport (CAS), in a bizarre decision, reversed the sanctions.
La Liga and many European football institutions had hope that PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi after entering bodies of European football management such as the UEFA Executive Committee and the presidency of the European Club Association (ECA) would abstain from these practices knowing they cause grave damage, but the opposite has been true. PSG is assuming an impossible investment, seeing that it has an unacceptable wage bill and large financial losses in prior seasons. It is violating current UEFA and French economic control rules.
This behaviour demonstrates once more that state owned clubs do not respect and do not want to respect the rules of a sector as important as football. These rules are key to protect and sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs.
This kind of behaviour led by Al-Khelaifi, president of PSG, and member of the UEFA Executive Committee and president of ECA, endangers European football on the same level as the European Super League.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
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