Kylian Mbappe takes PSG wage dispute to French league committee

Paris: France star Kylian Mbappe has referred his former club Paris Saint-Germain to the disciplinary committee of the French league in a row over unpaid wages and bonuses, a source close to the body told AFP on Monday.

The league (LFP) source said a hearing will take place on December 11 over PSG’s refusal to pay €55 million ($57.9m) owed to the striker, who moved to Real Madrid in June.

PSG were ordered by the LFP to pay Mbappe the sum owed from his time at the Parc des Princes but said in October they would refuse to do so on the basis that the player had agreed in August 2023 to waive the money.

Last month the French Football Federation rejected Qatar-owned PSG’s request to reconsider the order to pay Mbappe, saying it was submitted a day late.

According to the French league’s statutes, PSG could face a fine or a ban on signing players.

However, it is understood that PSG are confident that the LFP cannot have the final say on the case and that it would have to go before an industrial tribunal.

The origins of the conflict go back to an agreement between the parties in August of last year.

At that point, the France captain had been sidelined from the PSG squad for refusing to extend a contract that was due to expire in June of this year.

Such an extension would have at least allowed PSG to pocket a transfer fee if Mbappe left, but in the end he joined Real under freedom of contract.

According to that agreement, Mbappe was prepared to waive €55 million in different bonuses if he left for free at the end of the 2023/24 season.

However, the validity of the agreement — which the player himself alluded to before the media in January — is contested by Mbappe’s entourage.