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Mbappé departure is a challenge for French football

Kylan Mbappé has told PSG he will leave in the summer, probably for Real Madrid.

His looming departure comes at a critical time for PSG, which was valued at more than €4bn when US investment firm Arctos Partners agreed to buy up to 12.5 per cent of the club late last year. It is also seeking a new home stadium after failing to convince Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, to sell it the Parc des Princes, which it rents from Paris City Council.

His departure will also be a blow to Ligue 1, by potentially denting the value of broadcast rights for France’s top football league just as negotiations are under way for the 2024 to 2029 period. Private equity firm CVC invested in a newly formed commercial unit in 2022 to market the broadcast rights.

French clubs have struggled to keep pace with their rivals in terms of finances. Clubs in Ligue 1 generated total revenues of more than €2bn in 2021-22, according to consultancy Deloitte, well behind the €6.4bn made by Premier League clubs in Britain.

PSG is an outlier in the French league. The club, which boasts sponsorships with Qatar Airways and US corporates including Nike, increased its annual revenues to more than €800mn in 2022-23, up from €654mn the prior season. Only Spain’s Real Madrid and Premier League champions Manchester City made more revenue than PSG in 2022-23, according to Deloitte.

However, PSG has failed to win the Uefa Champions League, Europe’s top club tournament, despite dominating the domestic league, and Mbappé has been widely expected to leave France at some stage of his career.

Manchester City, owned by Emirati royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, won the Champions League for the first time as part of a historic treble last season. PSG and City have encountered scrutiny from football authorities for alleged breaches of financial regulations since they were acquired by Gulf owners.

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