La Liga President Claims To Have Proof That PSG Violated Financial Fair Play Rules

Presiden La Lagia Javier Tebas (Twitter @javierletabs)

JAKARTA - La Liga president Javier Tebas claims to have evidence that Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) violated Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

PSG signed Lionel Messi last summer on a free transfer, adding the Argentine's exorbitant salary to the French club's budget, which is already filled with world-class stars such as Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

FFP ensures clubs cannot have expenses greater than income and Tebas insists PSG are unlikely to generate enough revenue to pay for the squad they have.

"I criticize PSG for not making the money to have the squad they have now," Tebas said in an interview with l'Equipe on Thursday.

“This causes a distortion of competition in the European football economy. It doesn't match the actual sponsorship."

"How can PSG explain to us that they have a squad worth almost 600 million euros? When you win Ligue 1 you don't get more than 45 million euros, it's impossible."

"I invited the president of PSG and the president of the French league to show them the numbers we have and where the deviations lie. They didn't answer me. They are quick to criticize me, not answer me."

“I can show, with numbers to back it up, fraud in the face of Financial Fair Play. If Messi and Neymar stay with PSG, I don't care. The bottom line is that all of this is very detrimental to European football. I'm not the only one saying this."

When introducing Messi in August, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi insisted his club had not violated any financial rules in signing the six-time Ballon D'or winner.

“Regarding the financial aspect, I will explain: we know the rules of Financial Fair Play and we will always follow the rules. Before we do anything, we check with our commercial, financial and legal people."

“We have the capacity to sign him. If we sign Leo (Messi), it's because we can, otherwise we wouldn't."