Paris (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain left-back Layvin Kurzawa was the victim of a 200,000 euro (239,000) blackmail plot involving a video of the France international criticising national coach Didier Deschamps, judicial sources revealed on Monday.
Four men were arrested and charged with the foiled blackmail attempt during the summer.
The PSG player was filmed on a mobile phone in a shisha bar in Paris with the footage falling into the hands of the blackmail gang, sources related confirming a report on Europe 1 radio.
“In this tape the player makes critical comments at the France national manager,” a source disclosed.
When the plotters approached 25-year-old Kurzawa he contacted the police, who set in train a sting operation.
A police officer established contact with the gang acting as an intermediary for the player to set up a rendezvous.
But investigations suggested the gang planned to assault Kurzawa outside his home in the Paris suburbs.
A team of police officers watching the player’s home arrested three men caught in the act in August, with a fourth suspect detained this month.
Kurzawa moved from Monaco to PSG in 2015. He has turned out nine times for France, including their last two outings against the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
He is the second France player to be targeted in a blackmail plot after the Mathieu Valbuena sex-tape scandal implicating France strikers Djibril Cisse and Real Madrid star Karim Benzema.
