Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, has responded to La Liga president Javier Tebas’ criticism of the new Kylian Mbappe deal.
As his last contract with the French champions drew to a close, it was generally expected that the striker would join Real Madrid on a free transfer.
MbappeHowever, he rocked the footballing world by signing a new three-year contract with Les Parisiens, committing him to the club until the end of the 2024-25 season.
Mbappe’s wealthy new contract, estimated at €40m (£34m) a year, was described as “scandalous” by La Liga, while president Tebas called it an “insult to football”.
full league statement
“LaLiga wishes to emphasize that this type of agreement attacks the economic stability of European football, jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of jobs and the integrity of the sport, not only in European competitions, but also in domestic leagues,” the statement read.
“La Liga will file a complaint against PSG with UEFA, the French administrative and financial authorities and the UEFA authorities to continue to defend the economic ecosystem of European football and its sustainability.
“This behavior demonstrates once again 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 fundamental to protecting and sustaining hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“This kind of behavior led by Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, member of the UEFA Executive Committee and president of the European Club Association, puts European football at the same level as the Europa League.”
Nasser responds
“I think he (Tepas) may be afraid that the Ligue 1 will become bigger than La Liga,” Al-Khelaifi told reporters. “This is a good thing for us. It is positive for us as a club.”
“The La Liga was not the same three or four years ago. We have a lot of respect for all the clubs in the La Liga and also the championship, but we need respect too. We have Mbappe, he stays with us and with the rest, frankly, I don’t care.”
Mbappe marked the start of his new contract with a hat-trick in Saturday’s 5-0 win over Metz, which saw him end the Ligue 1 season with 28 goals and 17 assists.
Since joining Mauricio Pochettino’s side on loan in the summer of 2017, the former Monaco youngster has scored 171 goals and provided 87 assists in 217 appearances.
