PSG warned Messi and Mbappe wages will lead to Champions League sanctions

08 March 2023 , 17:05

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Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi are two of football's three highest earning stars (Image: Getty Images)

Paris Saint-Germain must make drastic cuts to their wage bill or face sanctions in the Champions League.

PSG were one of 10 clubs fined for breaching UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules for the 2020-21 season. They had accumulated losses of €30million across three accounting years, leading to a whopping €55m fine – of which €10m was paid immediately and the remaining €45m suspended.

PSG have been posting record losses in recent years with their most recent set of accounts showing €370m in losses. If they do not fall within UEFA’s FFP regulations, they must pay the suspended €45m fine alongside potential other sanctions.

Possible sanctions could include the French club being unable to register any new players to their European squad for next season and a possible reduction in the size of their registered squad for European competition dropping from 25 to 23.

There is also a distant threat that the club could be expelled from European competition entirely, as reported by Diario AS. The soonest that could happen would be by the 2024/25 campaign and would be as the result of sustained losses in that timeframe – meaning that their wage bill needs to be cut drastically in the meantime.

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It comes after the club’s star striker Kylian Mbappe opted to sign a three-year contract extension with the Ligue 1 champions last year, keeping him in the French capital until 2025. That made the Frenchman the best-paid player in world football (since eclipsed by Cristiano Ronaldo joining Al-Nassr) and came less than a year after the French club rejected a world-record transfer offer from Real Madrid for the striker.

Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe are PSG's highest earning stars (Getty Images)

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Mbappe is now earning £42.5million (€50m) per annum, which is in addition to his bonus of £153million (€180m) for staying at the Parc des Princes, where he now also has 100 per cent control of his image rights.

Previous to that new deal, his PSG teammate Lionel Messi was the best-paid player in the world. The Argentine’s first year in Paris saw him take home an annual salary of £25.5million (€30m), although this increased to £34million (€40m) for the current and final year of his two-year deal in Paris. It is claimed that Messi has received more than €1,000m throughout his career – more than any other player.

Messi is out of contract at the Parc des Princes this summer and it is possible that PSG face a bidding war to renew his contract which may even see an uptick in his annual salary.

The Parisian club enjoyed another busy summer transfer market; signing Portugal international midfield duo Renato Sanches and Vitinha from Lille and Porto respectively, alongside midfielder Carlos Soler from Valencia. They have also added striker Hugo Ekitike from Reims and defender Nordi Mukiele from RB Leipzig, while Nuno Mendes’s loan move from Sporting CP has been made permanent.

Colin Millar