Los Blancos fans’ optimism surrounding along hyped-up Kylian Mbappe transfer increased after finding out that the Blaugrana could no longer hold onto their talisman Lionel Messi, meaning he will almost certainly be a PSG player (with a deal reportedly been reached). The main idea is that Messi’s hefty wages would force PSG’s hand, necessitating the sale of Mbappe one year before his contract runs out.
However, PSG’s Qatar ownership has made it clear that they have no intention of selling Mbappe. Even before the Messi option surfaced, when Mbappe obdurately told Mauricio Pochettino and the club that he would not be re-signing, that still did not sway the steadfast Ligue 1 giants into opening negotiations with an eagerly-awaiting Florentino Perez.
Although it seems plausible that signing Messi would make it very difficult for PSG to hold onto Mbappe, yet every major media outlet in France is standing firm in their stance that the Parisien club will not sell the World Cup winner to Real. And this is why.
Miguel Venegas, via El Transistor, stated that PSG are well aware they could be sanctioned by FFP for signing Lionel Messi, Achraf Hakimi, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Georginio Wijnaldum, and, of course, Sergio Ramos in the same transfer window without making sufficient sales to offset these ginormous purchases.
However, Venegas is adamant that PSG are not in the least bit bothered as, if they are indeed sanctioned, the sanctions would only happen three years down the road.
Moreover, since PSG have never won the Champions League anyway, and desperately need to in order to consider their sporting project a success, it looks like they are more than willing to take this gamble with FFP in order to win it all in a high stakes gamble. And a squad with Messi, Mbappe, and Neymar leading the attack with the likes of Ramos and Marco Verratti standing guard imperiously behind them represents their best chance of taking home the trophy.
There’s also the matter of FFP, as enforced by UEFA, being seen as an utter joke, with Manchester City happily skipping past FFP. PSG, equally affluent and powerful, are even more favored by UEFA after being one of the only two major clubs – the other being Germany’s Bayern Munich) to not join the European Super League.
In fact, as much as LaLiga’s two gargantuan clubs have dominated spending and carried out their own unseemly, self-serving power moves in Spain, Barcelona losing Messi represents by far the biggest consequence a club has faced in the modern era for overspending. LaLiga and Javier Tebas literally forced their hand, and they lost the best player in their club’s history at a time when they have been 100 percent reliant on him.
PSG do not have to deal with the same strict league as Real Madrid and Barcelona, nor do they have any constraints on how much they can spend since they are bankrolled by Qatar. Armed always with a blank check to do whatever they want, and unless if someone stands in their way, it certainly looks like they are going to flex their muscles and push the full limits of their power by keeping Mbappe, Neymar, and Messi all together for 2021-2022.
And it’s that unchecked power that could prevent Real Madrid from signing the Galactico they have desperately wanted for two years.