French players’ union backs Kylian Mbappe amid PSG contract row

PARIS – France’s National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) has slammed Paris Saint-Germain, after the Ligue 1 champions excluded Kylian Mbappe from their pre-season tour of Asia as a contract stand-off between the forward and the club rumbles on.

The 24-year-old France captain has been put up for sale by PSG, according to media reports, after relations between the two parties soured in June.

Mbappe previously said he would not renew his contract, which expires at the end of next season, meaning he can leave for free in June 2024.

But PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has said they will not let Mbappe, the French top flight’s highest scorer for the last five seasons, go for free.

“These players – all of them – must enjoy the same working conditions as the rest of the professional workforce,” the UNFP, the main trade union for professional football players in France, said in a lengthy statement on Saturday.

“The UNFP feels it would be useful to remind managers that putting pressure on an employee – via the deterioration of their working conditions, for example – to force them to leave or accept what the employer wants constitutes moral harassment, which French law firmly condemns.

“So, yes, the UNFP reserves the right to take civil and criminal action against any club that behave in this way.”

PSG face the dilemma of allowing Mbappe to run down the final year of his contract and being unable to recoup any of the €180 million (S$266.5 million) they spent in 2017 to sign him from Monaco.

A smiling Mbappe posed for wefies with young PSG fans on Saturday after training, despite the saga surrounding him.

Less than 24 hours after the announcement that the team would travel to Asia without him, Mbappe trained with the club’s reserve team at their complex in Poissy outside Paris.

Afterwards, the black minivan he was travelling in pulled to a halt outside the gates of the facility where a crowd of fans was gathered and he stepped out, accompanied by a bodyguard.

A relaxed-looking Mbappe signed photographs and jerseys for the excited young supporters, one of whom was heard to shout “Stay with us Kylian” on AFPTV video.

PSG suspect Mbappe has already struck a deal with Real Madrid to move after his contract expires, but they are keen to sell him now to the highest bidder.

Foot Mercato reported that the Frenchman is a target for Saudi side Al-Hilal, who will offer a €200 million transfer fee for PSG and a contract worth €400 million over two years for Mbappe. The Sunday Telegraph also reported on the Saudi interest.

RMC Sport and The Times of London, meanwhile, reported that Chelsea are weighing up an offer for the star, with the former adding that another Premier League side are also interested.

Sky Sports suggested that “Mbappe is prepared to sit out an entire season and leave PSG on a free”. REUTERS, AFP