Kylian Mbappé‘s legal team is going on “the attack” to try and resolve the dispute between the World Cup winner and his former club Paris Saint-Germain.
The France striker argues PSG owes him €55 million ($61m) in unpaid wages, and his lawyers claim they have asked the Paris court to start proceedings.
Legal expert Thomas Clay said Mbappé has been authorized to make a precautionary seizure of the money, which has been frozen from PSG’s bank accounts on Thursday. A legal hearing is scheduled for May 26, he added.
“This story has been going on for just over a year now. One year was the deadline we set for ourselves for trying to resolve this dispute as peacefully as possible,” Mbappé’s main lawyer, Delphine Verheyden, said.
“As the months went by, Kylian Mbappé still hasn’t been paid the missing 55 million euros. A decision has been taken, this time to go on the attack.”
Verheyden said they were also asking the French sports minister to intervene and to legally challenge a decision by the appeals commission of the French Football Federation, which ruled that Mbappé’s appeal against PSG was not receivable.
She said she will also ask UEFA to look into the matter, arguing that PSG is in breach of its salary obligations. Verheyden suggested that PSG, if found responsible, could lose the licence allowing the club to play in the Champions League.
PSG said in a statement it still wants to reach an “amicable” solution to the dispute, “despite the repeated signs of bad faith and the player’s total refusal of any mediation.”
The club added that Mbappé “must respect the clear and repeated public and private commitments he has made to his employer.”
Last October, the French league appeals commission upheld the decision ordering PSG to pay Mbappé the unpaid wages he wants. Mbappé claims the club owes him three months’ salary and the last third of a loyalty bonus.
He joined Real Madrid last summer on a free transfer after scoring a club-record 256 goals in seven years at PSG.
PSG argued that when Mbappé was sidelined before the 2023-24 season — following his decision not to extend his contract — there was a verbal agreement with him opting to relinquish bonuses in order to return to the team.
Mbappé’s relationship with PSG ended amid deep tensions and some fans booed him in his last home game at Parc des Princes. PSG felt let down by Mbappé after offering him the most lucrative contract in club history when he signed a new contract in 2022.
But Mbappé was frustrated because he felt promises to sign key players were not kept. When he signed that deal, he was paraded in front of fans holding up a jersey with 2025 on it. Mbappé was reportedly annoyed because the contract was until 2024 — with a player’s option for an extra season.
Mbappé stunned PSG in June 2023 by informing the club he would not take the option for an extra year. With his contract effectively into its final year, it put PSG in the position of needing to sell Mbappé to avoid losing him for nothing when the contract expired.
His PSG career could have ended that summer amid a tense transfer standoff.
After telling the club he would not extend, Mbappé was left off a preseason tour to Japan and South Korea and forced to train with fringe players. PSG said it would rather sell him than let the player leave for free in 2024, but he rejected a €300m ($335m) move to Saudi Pro League team Al-Hilal.
PSG left Mbappé out of the opening league game of that season but he soon returned to the lineup following talks. Mbappé’s legal team said on Thursday it will start an action against PSG for harassment because of the way he was treated.
They will also start another legal procedure before an industrial tribunal, while Mbappé and his mother have filed lawsuits for the abuse they received online.
