PSG have found themselves under the microscope once more after tying down Kylian Mbappe to a new contract, with the French giants garnering a strong and angry response from Real Madrid and La Liga president Javier Tebas.
In fact, the Spanish top-flight filed a complaint to UEFA in the aftermath of the aforementioned transfer saga, calling for European football's governing body to examine the "irregular financing" of Les Parisiens and Manchester City, another club with ties to a wealthy Gulf state.
PSG and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi remained quiet for the most part in the immediate aftermath of Los Blancos' anger and La Liga's official complaint. However, the Parc des Princes president has now touched upon both issues and has hit back at both their continental rivals and the head of the Spanish Primera Division.
Al-Khelaifi first took aim at Real Madrid, congratulating the Spanish giants for their recent UEFA Champions League win, their 14th overall title in this competition's history. Ancelotti's men beat Liverpool 1-0 in Paris to lift the title, which led to weeks of celebration.
However, the PSG president pointed out the irony of this, accusing Los Merengues of celebrating winning the very same competition they seek to destroy by spearheading the controversial European Super League. The biggest issue with that breakaway tournament was the lack of promotion/relegation as the founding members were awarded guaranteed slots. Nasser, pointing to the recent UEFA Champions League runs of Ajax and Tottenham, argued that Real Madrid and Co. look to deny the "soul of football".
"I respect the big clubs. Real Madrid deserved the Champions League: they celebrated it for days and then they want to kill it," Al-Khelaifi said in his interview with Gazzetta dello Sport (as per Goal).
"I like to see Ajax in the semi-finals, Tottenham in the final. I remember with emotion PSG's first outings in Europe, in Salzburg with the bare-chested fans freezing.
"It is the soul of football. It is unfair to deny it with a closed league. We will not let that happen."
The Parc des Princes official then attempted to set the record straight regarding the Kylian Mbappe case. The French superstar was heavily slammed for allegedly choosing money over football, with many claiming the attacker decided to stay in his home country after being offered a mouthwatering wage package and signing-on fee. However, the Qatari argues that Real Madrid's offer was higher than PSG's.
"I heard that Madrid said he wanted to play for Madrid, but it wasn't true," Al-Khelaifi is quoted as saying by Marca.
"We are talking now about Madrid's latest offer, but in the summer they made an offer of 170 and 180 million [euros].
"That means that Madrid's offer, plus his salary, was already better than ours, as it is now. I turned down 180 [million euros] and they told me I was crazy, people I trusted, because he could leave for free, but I did it because I was sure Kylian was going to stay because I know him and his family well, I know what he wants.
"Kylian is very serious, professional, and he wants to play and win, he doesn't care about money. I understand that Madrid are disappointed, but it's not fair to say that about Mbappe."
When it came to Tebas, the PSG president was less formal. When asked about Javier's complaints in France and to UEFA, the QSI chairman hit back at the Spanish Primera Division head with one word: "who?"
"Who is Tebas?," he responded, as per Marca.
"I don't know that person. Our style is not to interfere in the affairs of other clubs, other leagues or federations, it is not our style. But I am not going to accept that others give us lessons.
"I don't care what he says, the truth is, we have been talking about this for years. We have a football project to build and we are going to go ahead. We're not worried about everything that comes out in the media, because we can't waste our time with everything that comes out."
