The Spanish La Liga has filed a former complaint to UEFA against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Manchester City over their transfer dealings.
On Wednesday, June 15, 2022, La Liga claimed that PSG broke financial fair play rules when the French club gave Kylian Mbappe a very lucrative deal which made him snub Real Madrid.
The league said it reported PSG to UEFA this week, following up on a similar complaint it filed in April against Manchester City, in which it claimed City “continuously fails to comply with the current financial fair play criteria.”
La Liga also claimed that it has retained law firms in France and Switzerland to pursue additional legal action “as soon as possible” “before the relevant bodies in France and the European Union.”
“La Liga considers that these practices alter the ecosystem and the sustainability of soccer, harm all European clubs and leagues, and only serve to artificially inflate the market with money not generated in soccer itself,” the league said in a statement.
Following Kylian Mbappe’s rejection of Madrid last month, the Spanish league declared that the player’s new three-year contract with PSG was “scandalous” and jeopardized European soccer’s economic stability.
“La Liga understands that these clubs are being improperly financed, either through direct injections of money or through sponsorships and other contracts that do not correspond to market conditions or make economic sense,” the league said on Wednesday.
However, there was no proof to back up La Liga’s claims in the statement.
Given PSG’s recent losses and an expensive lineup that includes Lionel Messi and Neymar, the Spanish league claims it would be financially impossible for the club to negotiate an agreement with Kylian Mbappe without breaching financial fair play.
The league body indicated that it might take further action against the teams as fresh data is gathered. Futballnews gathered that the complaint against Man City was lodged in April.
Note that PSG is owned by Qatar Sports Investments, a state-owned company, while Man City is owned by Abu Dhabi.
Spanish league president Javier Tebas has frequently chastised state-owned clubs for allegedly flouting financial fair play regulations. He called Mbappé’s decision to stay with PSG an “insult to soccer”.
Later, the French league issued Tebas a letter denouncing his attacks and claiming that they were unjustified.
The Spanish league is also exploring legal action against PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi for a “conflict of interest” connected to his activities with UEFA and other soccer-related organizations, according to the Spanish league.
This is not the first time La Liga tried to get PSG and Man City sanctioned by UEFA. In 2017 and 2018, it also filed charges against them for violating financial fair play guidelines.
Following an inquiry-based on leaks revealed by German newspaper Der Spiegel, UEFA barred Man City from the Champions League in 2020 for “severe breaches” of FFP rules. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, however, overruled that ruling in a “bizarre” decision, according to the Spanish league.
PSG was the subject of another FFP probe by UEFA in 2018, but no consequences were imposed. In the governing body’s first set of FFP fines in 2014, both Man City and PSG were fined 20 million euros (about $27 million).
UEFA has already stated that only its own investigators have the authority to decide when an inquiry should be launched, and its president, Aleksander Ceferin, has ignored concerns raised by Real Madrid and the Spanish league over the Kylian Mbappe deal.
“Look, not Real Madrid or anyone else will tell UEFA what to do,” Ceferin told the BBC last month. “They are outraged from one point of view (over Mbappé) and, as much as I know, their offer was similar to (PSG’s) offer.”
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