PSG appeals against payment of 55 million euros in withheld salary to Kylian Mbappe

Paris Saint-Germain have appealed a decision that would require the club to repay former striker Kylian Mbappe €55 million in withheld salary and bonuses from his time at the club.

PSG argued that they were entitled to do so because Mbappe's original contract had been “legally modified” as part of an agreement between the player and the club when he was reintegrated into the first team in the summer of 2023.

Your appeal will be examined by the Joint National Appeals Committee (CJ), which is under the protection of the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), the organisation responsible for running the professional football leagues in France.

PSG were ordered to pay Mbappe the €55 million (£46.4 million; $60.6 million) in a non-binding recommendation from an LFP legal commission last week, which instructed PSG to make the payment by Friday evening.

The LFP Commission had initially called for mediation in the case, but Mbappe refused. For this reason, the Commission recommended that PSG pay compensation to the 25-year-old French international.

The case is expected to be decided by an employment tribunal, although there are two further instances for possible appeals – first to the French Football Federation (FFF) and then to the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) before that decision is made.

PSG's latest statement reads: “Since the player refused to enter into mediation at the time, the Commission had no choice but to take the view that – quite simply – a contractual relationship exists between the parties.

“This is in no way up for debate or dispute – what is up for debate and will ultimately be heard before an appropriate court is that the original contract was legally modified and both the player and PSG fully relied on it – until the player then decided not to honour all of his obligations after leaving the club.

“Out of principle, PSG has appealed against the opinion of the LFP Commission, regardless of its limited effect. Because PSG's position is much more than a solid legal position – it is also a question of good faith, honesty, upholding values ​​and respect for the institution of Paris and its fans, which is more important than any player.

“In law and in fact, the player has repeatedly entered into public and private commitments which the club simply requires him to comply with. The player has simply been granted unprecedented advantages by the club during his seven years in Paris.

“The club hopes that these fundamental and inalienable obligations will be enforced before the relevant forum should the player regrettably seek to pursue this incomprehensibly defamatory matter further.”

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PSG withholds Mbappe's salary. Is this legal?

Where does the dispute come from?

The disagreement between the parties stems from a dispute over Mbappe's contract and whether he could leave PSG “for free”.

This escalated last summer when Mbappe told PSG that he had no intention of accepting a one-year contract extension, meaning he would leave on a free transfer in 2024. He then moved to Real Madrid.

At the time, PSG put Mbappe up for sale and the player was excluded from first-team training and the club's pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea. He was then reintegrated into the squad after an agreement was reached with the club. In January, Mbappe said the agreement had “managed to protect all parties”.

It is the nature of this agreement that has become a point of contention.

In a letter to Mbappe's lawyer Delphine Verheyden, PSG claims that Mbappe's legal representation proposed an agreement on August 11, 2023 that would see Mbappe's bonuses reduced by €55 million during the 2023-24 season, L'Equipe reported.

This led to the player's reinstatement into Luis Enrique's team on August 12, but this proposal was neither signed nor forwarded to the league, as required by the French Football Charter.

PSG claim the reason for the non-signing was a verbal agreement between club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Mbappe. This agreement, they argue, was witnessed by head coach Luis Enrique and sporting director Luis Campos and contained two scenarios.

One of them was that Mbappe would extend his contract but leave in the summer of 2024 for a transfer fee of at least €180 million (£152 million; $198 million), with Mbappe receiving a loyalty bonus worth €82 million (£69.2 million; $90.3 million). Another variation was that he would leave on a free transfer in June 2024 but would “revise downwards his compensation conditions for the 2023-2024 season in line with the return on capital envisaged in case no. 1”. In other words, in line with the amount the club would expect from a transfer.

In both cases, PSG would have been entitled to a return on investment of €98 million (£82.7 million; $108 million), which exceeds the amount Mbappe is currently demanding. Should the case be taken to an employment tribunal, PSG could claim that higher amount.

Unless otherwise agreed, Mbappe's right to receive his salary is protected by French employment law, but legal experts warn that withholding his wages could be a breach of this protection.

“Under French law, the salary must be paid every month,” Deborah David, a specialist in employment law at De Gaulle Fleurance, told The Athletic in July. “It is not possible to withhold the salary, even if it is to offset the last payment.”

(Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images)