The Albany Gazette - Mbappe-PSG salary row faces hearing as France captain cited in 'rape' report

The hearing will take place a day after a newspaper report in Sweden claimed Mbappe, the captain of the French national team, was being investigated for rape by Swedish police following a visit to Stockholm.

After Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet said that an alleged rape had been reported to police but did not reveal who was accused, another publication, Expressen, said 25-year-old Mbappe was the suspect.

Mbappe's entourage, when contacted by AFP, said it had no knowledge of a legal complaint made against him.

The player himself claimed in a post on X that the report was "fake news" and suggested there was a link between the Aftonbladet story and his hearing before the French league committee in his bitter row with PSG.

The French league (LFP) ordered PSG in September to pay Mbappe 55 million euros in wages and bonuses he claimed he was owed at the time of his departure for Real Madrid at the end of last season.

The committee, which will notably be made up of two members of the French national players' union, a magistrate and an independent president, can confirm or overturn the LFP's order.

The case was referred to the committee after Mbappe refused the LFP's offer to act as a mediator between the France captain and PSG.

The LFP told PSG to pay the money and gave them a week to do so, but the club appealed that order.

Suggesting there was a link between the report in Sweden and the hearing, Mbappe wrote on X: "FAKE NEWS !!!!. It's becoming so predictable, on the eve of the hearing, as if by chance."

A source close to the French champions said the club would "ignore" his comment and "maintain their class and dignity".

If the committee overturns the LFP's original decision, it would then have several possibilities, including providing a whole new ruling on the dispute or sending it back to a legal committee.

It is expected to take several days before publishing its conclusions.

The origin of the dispute can be traced back to an agreement in August 2023, when the player was frozen out of the PSG squad for refusing to extend his contract.

An extension would have allowed PSG to receive a transfer fee if Mbappe then departed this year, but instead he left for nothing under freedom of contract and signed for Real.

Under the agreement, Mbappe said he would waive 55 million euros in various bonuses if he departed for free at the end of last season.

But the validity of the agreement, which Mbappe himself alluded to publicly to journalists in January, is contested by the player's entourage. They describe it as a "hidden agreement".

The sum Mbappe is claiming he is owed is comprised of the last third of a signing-on fee, of 36 million euros gross, which he was supposed to receive in February, as well as his last three months' salary from last season and an ethics bonus covering the same period.

(P.Davis--TAG)