PSG ordered to pay huge €60m fee to Kylian Mbappe after losing French court case | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain have been ordered to pay Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe €60m after losing a court case over unpaid wages.

The two parties had been in a long-running dispute following the French forward’s departure to Real Madrid but the court has come down in favour of Mbappe, determining that PSG failed to pay him three months of contracted wages as well as an ethics and signing bonus.

Mbappe had originally sued for €240m, claiming for damages as well as his unpaid wages, while PSG sought compensation for the player’s failed €300m move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.

Mbappe would eventually leave PSG via a free transfer, joining Real Madrid last summer.

Following the verdict, Mbappe’s legal team said: “We are satisfied with this ruling. This is what you could expect when salaries went unpaid.

“This judgment confirms that commitments entered into must be honoured. It restores a simple truth: even in the professional football industry, labour law applies to everyone.

“Mr Mbappe, for his part, scrupulously respected his sporting and contractual obligations for seven years, right up to the final day.”

All told, the dispute went on for more than two years with Mbappe frozen out of the squad following his decision not to move to Saudi.

He was later reinstated with PSG claiming they only did so as they believed Mbappe had agreed to forgo some of his end-of-contract payments, something his representative described as “fantasy.”

PSG also claim Mbappe acted “disloyally by concealing for nearly eleven months, between July 2022 and June 2023, his decision not to extend his contract” and suggested they had suffered “significant damages” as a result of his actions.

While unusual, Mbappe is not the first player to take a club to court over unpaid wages. In November 2024, Manchester City were ordered to pay £8m to Benjamin Mendy after an employment tribunal ruled that he was due them.

City stopped paying Mendy his £6m-a-year salary after he was charged with multiple sexual offences and withheld payment until his contract expired in June 2023.

But Mendy was acquitted of all charges and claimed £11m in unpaid wages over a 22-month period. The tribunal found that City were within their rights to withhold wages when he was jailed for five months but not for the following 17 months and so were ordered to pay more than £8m.

Former Derby County Richard Keogh also received money after it was determined the club breached his contract.

Keogh suffered a knee injury when teammate Tom Lawrence crashed into a lamppost. He was ruled out for 15 months and was told by the club he could sever the remainder of his contract but at a reduced wage, something Keogh did not agree to.

The club then terminated his contract but Keogh made a claim for breach of contract to the EFL’s Player Related Dispute Commission and was successful, being awarded £2.3m in compensation.