Those responsible at Paris Saint-Germain would have liked to have spared themselves this renewed unrest.
A few hours before an extremely important league game in Nice – after eight competitive defeats in 2023 alone – the nerves were already on edge anyway.
The French champions released a short promotional clip for their season ticket campaign ahead of the upcoming season on Thursday.
In it, Kylian Mbappé raves about the club and fans. Other players such as Lionel Messi, Neymar or Marco Verratti are hardly or not at all visible.
Mbappe feels betrayed by PSG
The catch: the French star striker had obviously not been informed about this and initially thought this interview would be used for a completely different purpose.
Speaking on his Instagram account, he explained: “PSG is a big club and a big family – but it’s not Kylian Saint-Germain.”
Kylian Mbappé rumbles against PSG after a video scandal
What is behind his annoyed reaction?
Why Mbappé is so upset
Very few believe that it is purely about image rights. However, it’s also doubtful that he didn’t want to appear in this clip as it shouldn’t be definitely assumed that he’ll be wearing the PSG shirt in 2023/24 as well
Because the bosses of the capital club are initially planning until June 2024 with the superstar.
Sporting director Luis Campos is already working at full speed to turn the squad inside out and build a competitive team around Mbappé.
However, the Bondy-born French hero certainly doesn’t want to be that much in the public eye.
He probably fears the evil looks of his teammates in the dressing room, where a certain envy reigns at least since his spectacular contract extension last summer – which made him the highest-paid athlete of all time.
“That harms the club!”
“This club just doesn’t rest,” said ex-PSG player Vincent Guerin SPORTS1.
“I don’t know exactly what went wrong in this case and who is to blame, but it would make more sense for such stories to be kept within the four walls of Camp des Loges (PSG training ground, editor’s note) stay and not be carried out in public every time. That damages the club.”
PSG boss Al-Khelaifi intervenes!
In order to calm things down to some extent, President Nasser Al-Khelaifi changed his agenda and came to Paris earlier than expected to talk to a number of players – including Mbappé – privately but also in front of the assembled team.
“Kylian made a good impression during training this morning, he was in a good mood,” said PSG coach Christophe Galtier succinctly at the press conference before the Nice game. “I think that story will soon be a thing of the past.”
However, with the way Paris’ new Hollywood FC recently presented themselves, it won’t be long before the next problem appears out of nowhere – especially when PSG concede their third consecutive defeat against Nice, who have been unbeaten for two months.
