PSG escape UEFA sanctions but remain under scrutiny

Paris (AFP) – UEFA have closed their financial fair-play case against Paris Saint-Germain after the Qatari-backed French Ligue 1 champions were cleared of any wrongdoing on Wednesday.

The UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) had been monitoring PSG’s ‘break-even requirement’ for 2015, 2016 and 2017.

“Compliance with the break-even requirement for the 2018 financial year will remain under close scrutiny,” UEFA said.

The French champions now have some breathing space to move out a string of players before the start of next season.

PSG observers claim the club are open to offers for Javier Pastore, Gonzalo Guedes, Angel Di Maria and Adrien Rabiot, and hope to cover Neymar’s transfer fee that way.

Wage bills will also be slashed as Thiago Motta has retired and Hatem Ben Arfa is out of contract.

The club have just hired a new coach in Germany’s Thomas Tuchel and on top of his personal transfer targets, the clubs owners are said to be close to bringing veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to Paris.

UEFA opened an investigation into PSG’s compliance with FFP rules at the start of this season, just weeks after they completed deals to sign Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Neymar arrived for a world-record fee of 222 million euros ($264 million) from Barcelona, while the club also signed Mbappe on loan from Monaco but with an agreement to sign the teen sensation in a 180 million-euro deal at the end of this campaign.

British newspaper the Financial Times in April  claimed PSG had “overstated” sponsorship contracts to the tune of 200 million euros.

In 2014 UEFA deemed PSG had artificially inflated their income using a sponsorship deal with another Qatari state-owned enterprise, the Qatar Tourism Authority.