For seven seasons, Kylian Mbappe was the face of Paris Saint-Germain and the superstar around whom the club revolved. His goals powered domestic dominance, his image carried global ambition, and his presence defined an era. Yet when he finally left the club, the farewell was anything but graceful. What followed was a bruising legal battle that exposed one of modern soccer’s most toxic breakups — and ended with a stunning ruling that reshaped the power balance between player and club.
Few expected the fallout to escalate this far. Fewer still predicted the scale of the outcome. At the center of it all was a question soccer rarely wants to confront: what happens when contracts, loyalty, and power collide under the scrutiny of labor law?
Mbappe joined PSG in 2017 and quickly became its defining figure, winning six league titles and scoring a record 256 goals. But tensions simmered beneath the surface long before the legal confrontation.
In 2023, the Frenchman informed the club that he would not activate an extension clause in his contract, meaning he could leave on a free transfer the following summer. That decision triggered a chain reaction. He was excluded from pre-season plans, sidelined from the opening match of the season, and placed under mounting pressure to either renew or leave.
Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain is consoled by Luis Enrique,
The club claimed these actions were necessary to protect its financial interests. Mbappe’s camp saw it differently. According to multiple reports cited by The Athletic, the forward’s legal team argued that wages and bonuses were unlawfully withheld during the final months of his contract, despite him continuing to train and play.
The court steps in — and delivers its verdict
After months of legal wrangling, a Paris labor court delivered a decisive ruling. The judges found that the club had failed to pay three months of salary, a loyalty bonus, and a signing bonus owed under Mbappe’s contract. As a result, the club was ordered to make an immediate payment exceeding $70.7 million, covering unpaid wages and bonuses.
The ruling also dismissed the club’s extraordinary counter-claim, which had sought hundreds of millions in damages for what it described as a “loss of opportunity” following Mbappe’s free transfer. In a statement following the verdict, Mbappe’s lawyers declared: “This ruling confirms a simple truth: even in professional football, labour law applies to everyone.” They added that the decision validated their long-held position that no written agreement existed in which the player waived his earnings.
Mbappe and Zidane
Why Mbappe won and PSG lost the case
At the heart of the case was an alleged verbal agreement. The club insisted that Mbappe had agreed to forgo certain payments in exchange for being reintegrated into the squad during the 2023-24 season. The court disagreed. Crucially, judges ruled that no formal amendment to the contract had ever been signed, making the club’s position legally untenable. Without documentary proof, the claim collapsed.
That finding proved decisive — and devastating. The court also rejected Mbappe’s attempt to reclassify his fixed-term contract as a permanent one, limiting the size of his award. But on the central issue of unpaid compensation, the verdict was unequivocal.
