Mbappé drops legal harassment case against PSG and seeks reconciliation

PARIS (AP) – Kylian Mbappé has dropped the legal proceedings he started this year against Paris Saint-Germain for moral harassment, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press.

The Paris prosecutor’s office last month said Mbappé accused the club in a legal filing, and opened an investigation. A person close to the France captain said on Tuesday that Mbappé’s decision to end that legal procedure was linked to a desire for reconciliation with his former club.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly in line with the practice of Mbappé’s entourage.

The France captain is at odds with his former club, arguing PSG owes him 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages. The person said the end of the criminal proceedings does not affect that ongoing procedure before an industrial tribunal.

When he accused Paris Saint-Germain of moral harassment this spring, Mbappé denounced the ‘lofting’ he claimed to have been subjected to at the club. The word lofting is used in France to describe a practice that involves isolating a player from the main squad for sporting, administrative, or disciplinary reasons.

Mbappé was unhappy with the way he was treated by the Ligue 1 club when he was sidelined before the 2023-24 season, following his decision not to extend his club contract.

But according to his entourage, relations between Mbappé and PSG president Nasser Nasser Al-Khelaïfi have been improving for several weeks.

Mbappé joined Real Madrid last summer on a free transfer after scoring a club-record 256 goals in seven years at PSG. He will face his former club in Wednesday’s Club World Cup semifinal.

Mbappé’s relationship with PSG ended amid deep tensions, and some fans booed him in his last home game at Parc des Princes. PSG felt let down by Mbappé after offering him the most lucrative contract in club history when he signed a new contract in 2022.

Mbappé stunned PSG in June 2023 by informing the club he would not take the option for an extra year. With his contract effectively into its final year, it put PSG in the position of needing to sell Mbappé to avoid losing him for nothing when the contract expired.

His PSG career could have ended that summer amid a tense transfer standoff.

After telling the club he would not extend, Mbappé was left off a preseason tour to Japan and South Korea and forced to train with fringe players. PSG said it would rather sell him than let the player leave for free in 2024, but he rejected a 300 million euros move to Saudi Arabia team Al-Hilal.

PSG left Mbappé out of the opening league game of that season but he soon returned to the lineup following talks.