According to a new report from RMC Sports, PSG stated during a court hearing on Monday that Kylian Mbappé should pay the club €98 million in damages due to his “delaying tactics,” which they claim financially harmed the club.
PSG appeared in court to request the lifting of a €55 million asset freeze that Mbappé had obtained in April, representing unpaid wages and bonuses. The Paris judicial court granted Mbappé the right to secure these funds pending resolution in other legal proceedings.
However, PSG’s legal team argued that Mbappé “failed to sufficiently prove the existence of the debt or any threat of recovery.” Lawyer Thomas Azzaro said PSG had already filed a separate lawsuit to overturn the LFP Legal Committee’s order requiring the club to pay Mbappé €55 million. That case will be debated on May 26 — the same day the judge will rule on the current procedural matter.
PSG also filed a €98 million counterclaim, with lawyer Renaud Semerdjian telling AFP, “Mbappé owes Paris Saint-Germain money because his delaying strategy has caused harm to the club.” He added, “We’re not aiming to recover €98 million — it’s to show that if he owes us money, then his own claim has no legal grounds.”
In reality, only €14 million of the €55 million has been effectively frozen, as banks have reportedly been uncooperative. Mbappé’s lawyer Thomas Clay fired back: “Where’s the money? Seizing funds is not easy — the banks are refusing to cooperate.”
He added, “We’re up against a sovereign state — Qatar — which funds this club continuously. When accounting is opaque and when we know how hard it is to deal with a state, there is a risk of non-recovery.”
Clay warned that the ruling will be closely watched: “If you consider that sports arbitrators aren’t real judges, then the entire sports legal system collapses.”
Though legal battles between the two sides have dragged on within sports institutions, those bodies have so far said they cannot enforce pro-player decisions due to the ongoing civil litigation.
PSG also claimed that they and Mbappé reached a verbal agreement in the summer of 2023 that the player would forgo part of his end-of-contract payments to help preserve the club’s financial health. Mbappé’s lawyer dismissed that claim as “a fantasy.”