Oscar Wilde probably wasn't thinking about the gazillionaire, image-laundering 'lifestyle brand' called Paris Saint Germain when he told us that penury is the luxury of the rich, but it appears that even PSG are willing to indulge in a bit of (relative!) penny-pinching.
Der Spiegel's stream of Football Leaks-buttressed revelations continue to flow, and today they briefly took a detour from their remarkable focus on Manchester City to take a look at Kylian Mbappe's initial contract demands at PSG.
As soon as Mbappe rocketed to fame with Monaco, he was subject to intense demand from Europe's biggest clubs and eventually joined Paris Saint Germain.
Ever since moving to Paris, Mbappe has cultivated a fine public image for himself as a kind of bashful, anti-Neymar, to the point that during the World Cup he renounced Neymar's holy grail.
As long as I can help the team, it's all that matters to me. I do not care about the Ballon d'Or, I want the World Cup.
The latest Der Spiegel revelations, however, shows that Mbappe isn't exactly deaf to the award's significance. Per the report, when negotiating his contract, Mbappe's representatives asked for a clause which ensured that the teenager would be promoted to PSG's highest-earner were he to win the Ballon D'Or. This, of course, would take him beyond Neymar, and PSG ultimately refused. Mbappe also asked that the club make a private jet available to him for 50 hours per year - this too was refused.
PSG did, however, accede to Mbappe's request for an allowance of €30,000 per month so he can pay his personal staff, which consists of a caretaker, a driver, and a bodyguard. PSG also gave into another request, although this wasn't predicated on money: they allow Mbappe's father, Wilfrid, to be present during training and allow him to conduct additional training sessions with his son at the training complex.
The full piece can be read here.
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