Crisis? What crisis? Money no object in Qatari strategy with PSG
With its signing of Argentine superstar Lionel Messi this summer, and its money-no-object refusal to agree the 180-million-euro transfer to Real Madrid of its French star forward Kylian Mbappé, football club Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari owners, apparently immune to the financial effects of the Covid-19 crisis, once again demonstrated their unbridled ambitions in diplomacy through sport. As Jérôme Latta reports, the backdrop is the ever more deregulated structure of European football.
ItIt was at midnight on Tuesday, when the August 31st deadline for the summer football transfer window closed, that the long-running saga of the possible departure of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) star forward Kylian Mbappé ended with him staying at the club, despite the increasing bids to sign him by Real Madrid, widely reported as ending with an eye-watering offer of 180 million euros – and which Spanish media reports suggested was even as high as between 200-220 million euros.
