Mbappe and PSG: The $800M battle over unpaid wages and moral harassment
Paris (AP): The legal dispute between Paris Saint-Germain and Kylian Mbappe escalated on Monday with both sides making colossal financial demands.
The France star forward and his former club are at odds over alleged unpaid wages, and the financial dispute was examined by an industrial court.
Mbappé, who did not attend the hearing, previously claimed he was owed 55 million euros ($63 million) by the reigning European champion. He now demands more than 260 million euros from the club, arguing that PSG owes him that money because his fixed-term contract should be reclassified as a permanent one. Such a reclassification would trigger compensation for unfair dismissal, unpaid wages, bonuses, and severance.
He also claims damages for moral harassment, undeclared work, and breaches of PSG's duty of good faith and safety toward him.
“Kylian Mbappé is not asking for anything beyond what the law provides; he is simply seeking the enforcement of his legal rights, as any employee would,” the player's advisers said in a statement.
PSG, meanwhile, is seeking a total of 440 million euros from the striker including 180 million euros for a “loss of opportunity” to complete his transfer since he left as a free agent after he declined a 300 million euros offer from Saudi club Al-Hilal in July 2023.
PSG said in a statement it also wants compensation for breaches of good faith in both negotiations and contract performance, as well as reputational and image damage.
A decision from the court is expected next month.
A lingering disputeMbappé joined Real Madrid during the 2024 summer on a free transfer after scoring a club-record 256 goals in seven years at PSG, which won the Champions League without him this year.
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.
“Before the court, the club presented evidence showing that the player acted disloyally by concealing for nearly eleven months, between July 2022 and June 2023, his decision not to extend his contract, thereby depriving the club of any possibility of arranging a transfer,” PSG said in a statement.
“The player then challenged an agreement concluded with the club in August 2023, which provided for a reduction in salary should he decide to leave on a free transfer, in order to preserve the club's financial stability following the exceptional investment made.”
Mbappés camp replied that PSG never produced any evidence of an agreement to waive these payments.
Harassment accusationsWhen he accused PSG of moral harassment, Mbappé denounced the lofting' he claimed to have been subjected to at the club. The word lofting is used in France to describe a practice that involves isolating a player from the main squad for sporting, administrative, or disciplinary reasons.
His relationship with PSG ended amid deep tensions, as the club felt let down after offering him the most lucrative contract in club history when he signed a new deal in 2022.
Mbappé stunned PSG a year later 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. Mbappé had joined PSG from Monaco for 180 million euros in 2017.
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 move to Al-Hilal.
PSG left Mbappé out of the opening league game of that season but he soon returned to the lineup following talks.
PSG denied accusations of harassment or pressure, stating that Mbappé took part in more than 94% of the official matches of the 2023-24 season “with all sporting decisions made by a coach who is now a Champions League winner — and that he always worked in conditions compliant with the Professional Football Charter.”
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Jai Bhim: Slogan that energised Dalits was first given at this central Maharashtra village
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (PTI): 'Jai Bhim': These two words have come to symbolise the awakening and empowerment of the Dalit community in independent India, but not many people know how it originated.
The slogan, which also encapsulates the immense reverence in which Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is held, was first raised at the Makranpur Parishad, a conference organised at Makranpur village in Kannad teshil of today's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district in Maharashtra.
Ambedkar, the chief architect of India's Constitution, died on December 6, 1956.
Bhausaheb More, the first president of the Scheduled Castes Federation of Marathwada, organised the first Makranpur Parishad on December 30, 1938.
Dr Ambedkar spoke at the conference and asked the people not to support the princely state of Hyderabad under which much of central Maharashtra then fell, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Pravin More, Bhausaheb's son.
"When Bhausaheb stood up to speak, he said every community has its own deity and they greet each other using the name of that deity. Dr Ambedkar showed us the path of progress, and he is like God to us. So henceforth, we should say 'Jai Bhim' while meeting each other. The people responded enthusiastically. A resolution accepting 'Jai Bhim' as the community's slogan was also passed," More told PTI.
"My father came in contact with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in his early years. Bhausaheb was aware of the atrocities the Nizam state committed on Dalits. He told Ambedkar about these atrocities, including the pressure to convert. Dr Ambedkar was strongly against these atrocities, and he decided to attend the 1938 conference," he said.
As Ambedkar was against the princely states, he was banned from giving speeches in the Hyderabad state but was allowed to travel through its territories. The Shivna river formed the border between Hyderabad and British India. Makranpur was chosen as the venue for the first conference because it was on the banks of Shivna but lay in the British territory, ACP More said.
The stage made of bricks, from where Dr Ambedkar addressed the conference, still stands. The conference is organised on December 30 every year to carry forward Ambedkar's thought, and the tradition was not discontinued even in 1972 when Maharashtra experienced one of the worst droughts in it history.
"My grandmother pledged her jewellery for the conference expenses. People from Khandesh, Vidarbha and Marathwada attended it. Despite a ban imposed by the Nizam's police, Ambedkar's followers crossed the river to attend the event," said ACP More.
"This is the 87th year of Makranpur Parishad. We have deliberately retained the venue as it helps spread Ambedkar's thought in rural areas," he added.
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