Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has faced criticism from France’s National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) after excluding Kylian Mbappe from their pre-season tour to Asia. The decision comes as a result of the ongoing contract standoff between the club and the forward. Media reports suggest that PSG has put the 24-year-old France captain up for sale following strained relations between the two parties last month.
Mbappe had previously indicated that he would not renew his contract with PSG, which is set to expire at the end of the next season. This means that he would be able to leave the club for free in June 2024. However, PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi has made it clear that they will not allow Mbappe, who has been the highest scorer in the French top-flight for the past five seasons, to leave without receiving a transfer fee.
In response to PSG’s decision, the UNFP, which is the main trade union for professional football players in France, released a statement on Saturday expressing their dissatisfaction. They emphasized that all players should have equal rights and working conditions as any other professional employee. The union warned that putting pressure on an employee, such as deteriorating their working conditions, to force them to leave or accept unfavorable terms constitutes moral harassment, which is strongly condemned by French law. The UNFP stated that they reserved the right to take civil and criminal action against any club that engages in such behavior.
Despite PSG winning nine of the last 11 Ligue 1 titles, their success has not translated to the Champions League, which they have never won despite significant investments in the squad. PSG now faces a dilemma regarding Mbappe’s contract situation. If they allow him to run down the final year of his contract, they will be unable to recoup any of the 180 million euros ($200.2 million) they spent to sign him from AS Monaco in 2017. Mbappe has been linked with a potential move to Real Madrid, the record 14-time European champions.
($1 = 0.8990 euros)
Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru
Editing by Helen Popper
