While going through a complicated period on the pitch, PSG would have done well without this latest episode. On Thursday, Kylian Mbappé published a message on his social media accounts criticising the staging of some of his remarks in a clip for the club’s 2023-2024 season ticket renewal campaign.
“At no time was I informed of what the content of the interview was intended for. It looked like a basic interview at a club marketing day. I disagree with this video that was posted. This is why I fight for individual image rights. PSG is a big club and a big family, but it is certainly not Kylian Saint-Germain.”
The 24-year-old attacker evidently occupies the leading role at the capital club and in this marketing piece which caused such a stir. Throughout it, he is the only one to speak, at times via voiceover. Sitting in the stands of an empty Parc des Princes, he praises the “atmosphere” of the stadium and its fans, “the 12th man.”
Then he continues: “To be Parisian, already, is to be proud. It’s being proud of who we are, of what we represent. Proud to be ambitious, proud to want to achieve things. A desire to win, to always excel and never forget where we come from.”
In addition to Mbappé, we see four other players, including three youth academy products: Warren Zaire-Emery, Ismaël Gharbi and Ilyes Housni. Portuguese left-back Nuno Mendes also appears and… groundsman Jonathan Calderwood.
How should one interpret the public wrath of the Bondy native about this material? Since the signing of his shock contract extension last summer and the efforts made by the board of the French champions to convince him to do so that same with it, Mbappé has necessarily had a level of influence within the club that has caused gossip among his team-mates. Some have confided in private, according to L’Équipe, that they had never seen a club grant so much power to a player. Beyond the remuneration involved, the arrival of Luís Campos at Mbappé’s recommendation and thus indirectly that of coach Christophe Galtier, have been seen as a gesture from the board to satisfy the France captain.
In the mind of the PSG #7, it was then a question of ensuring that he was not going to regret his decision to stay and extend, rather than actually wanting to control everything – but the net effect on the rest of the dressing room has been the same. Mbappé has major reservations about the transfer window last summer, which he has expressed strongly internally and through indirect digs in public. This would suggest that on transfer policy, Mbappé has had very limited influence so far, at least in this particular part of the club’s operations.
But PSG’s season ticket renewal campaign video was dumbfounding. Whilst it is understandable that Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos and Neymar were not in the video as their respective futures are unclear for next season. Why wasn’t Marco Verratti or Marquinhos involved? This reinforces the idea that this is Kylian Saint-Germain.
Sources inside PSG’s marketing department say that this was mere “clumsiness” and that a chain of errors were made.
Originally, several other players were going to express themselves in the video, but for various reasons (in particular how boring some of the answers were), only the clip produced by Mbappé was used. Since he embodies the PSG project today, this did not seem problematic in the eyes of those in the marketing department and there was “no malice” intended, according to PSG sources. The final recording, sent to club members, was not put in front of the board nor the PR department.
Another aspect of this incident concerns the question of “individual image rights” which has been brought to the fore in recent times more generally by Mbappé in his ongoing feud with the French Football Federation. In his social media post, the player appears to imply that he did not know that his remarks would be used for the season ticket campaign. This does not fail to surprise PSG sources, when the purpose of this recording, made a few weeks ago, seemed very clear. It will not help how a small number of PSG executives feel about Mbappé, including some key decision-makers, who have been irritated by his communication style and attitude since the start of the season.
In any case, it is clear that Mbappé feels exploited and this is perhaps what led him to expose the problem publicly rather than keeping it in house.
This drama reminds us of the summer of 2021, when PSG published a joint interview of Mbappé with Neymar in the club magazine, where the number 7 confided: “My biggest dream with PSG is to win the Champions’ League.” The timing of the publication, namely the end of July, had annoyed the player because the interview had been carried out two months earlier and that between that period he had informed the club’s board that he wanted to leave the club.
This raises another pertinent question. By pushing back against the use of his image for the 2023-2024 season ticket campaign, does that mean that he preparing for a departure? The Spanish media rushed to this hypothesis on Thursday. Given that the player is under contract until June 2024, with an option for a third year, it is not crazy to wonder if PSG might resolve to sell him this summer so as not to see him go free in fifteen months time.
Except that this is absolutely not likely to occur. The club has absolutely no intention of parting ways with Mbappé this summer. As for Mbappé, he sees absolutely no way that the club would allow for a departure in summer and is therefore not even considering the possibility in a meaningful way.
James Thorpe | GFFN
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