PSG have secured a significant victory over Kylian Mbappé today in a bitter dispute over €55m in wages and bonuses.
Mbappe believes he is owed the money after he moved to Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer. PSG insist he had agreed to waive the sum in question if he ever left PSG as a free agent.
The Ligue de Football Professionnel legal committee recommended today that the two sides enter a mediation process to settle the dispute.
PSG's position is that when Mbappě renewed his contract in 2022, and many time afterwards, he agreed that if he left at the end of his contract it would not be for nothing and that would happen by the player waiving certain financial commitments.
PSG believe the agreement was triggered when Mbappé joined Real Madrid as a free agent this summer.
The club have withheld €55m based on the agreement, which has now risen to €68m after costs.
Mbappé believes he is owed the money but the committee today did not order PSG to pay him. Instead it has ruled that the parties must settle the dispute between themselves or bring in a mediator, having recognised PSG's verbal arguments and documented evidence.
If Mbappé refuses to enter a mediation process he has the option of filing a claim with a French employment tribunal.
PSG believe he is the best paid player and in the history of football - a player who has been paid hundreds of millions - but he is simply refusing to do what he committed to do in front of multiple high-profile witnesse
PSG have welcomed the committee's recommendation in a statement:
“Paris Saint-Germain is very pleased with today's two-hour hearing before the Commission. The Club recalled that the player has 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.
"In the light of the Club's oral and documented arguments, the Commission insisted on mediation between the parties, which Paris Saint-Germain has been seeking for many months. The Commission has now invited the player to consider the mediation process.
