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Frenchman Kylian Mbappe agreed to stay with Paris Saint-Germain, after he was on the verge of moving to Real Madrid.
There were strong press reports expecting Mbappe, 23, to move to the Spanish team, but he signed a new 3-year contract with the French team.
Officials of the Spanish League, “La Liga”, objected to the deal, considering it a “scandal”. They announced their intention to file a formal complaint with the European and French Football Associations, as well as with the relevant authorities within the European Union and France.
“This type of agreement threatens the economic identity of European football,” said a statement issued by La Liga.
He added, “Hundreds of thousands of sports jobs are on the edge of the abyss, in the medium term, not only at the level of European competitions, but at the local levels in various tournaments.”
And Spanish football expert, Golem Balagh, wrote last month that Paris Saint-Germain was ready to offer Mbappe worth 150 million euros, signing fees, to tempt him to continue for an additional two seasons.
This came after it was reported that Mbappe had agreed months ago to move to Real Madrid, which is coached by Carlo Ancelotti.
After the agreement was announced, Mbappe said that he was happy to stay in Paris Saint-Germain, after a press conference he held with the president of the Qatari club, Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
The announcement came before Paris Saint-Germain met Metz in the last match of the French Football League.
“I am convinced that I can develop here with the team, which provides all means to play the game at the highest level,” Mbappe said.
“I feel very happy to continue in France, the country in which I was born and raised,” he added.
picture released, Archyde.com
Mbappe was on the verge of moving to Real Madrid
In 2017, Mbappe joined Paris Saint-Germain from Monaco, and won four Ligue 1 titles with them in five years.
The Qatar-owned team has made every effort to keep Mbappe in its ranks, with the end of his contract approaching next month. Management was prepared to offer him a net annual salary of £21m.
During his team’s confrontation with Real Madrid in the round of 16 in the Champions League, Mbappe scored in the first leg and return matches. But that was not enough, as Paris Saint-Germain went out with a 3-2 defeat on aggregate.
Mbappe finished the local championship that his team won this season, as its top scorer with 28 goals. He also made 17 assists for his teammates during the 35 matches he participated in.
“insult”
Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, has lashed out at clubs that spend lavishly such as Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, and for the proposed European Super League.
And in a tweet on social media, he said, “What Paris Saint-Germain will do by signing a new contract with Mbappe in huge amounts, after losing 700 million euros over the past seasons and costing them 600 million euros in annual salaries. All this is an insult to football.”
According to a report published this month by the French Football Professionals Association, the supervisory authority for the local professional leagues in France, Paris Saint-Germain lost about 224 million euros during the 2020-2021 season. This came after losing more than 124 million euros during the previous season, 2019-20. Due to the shortening of the French League due to the Corona virus epidemic.
Tebas said that Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, “is no less dangerous than the proposed European Super League.”
The Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona were among 12 European clubs that agreed to join the “European Super League” championship, separate from the European Football Association last year, but the proposed tournament collapsed within a few days due to the criticism directed at it.
Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich opposed joining the tournament.