An extraordinary war of words has broken out between Paris Saint-Germain and La Liga’s president, Javier Tebas, after he accused the French club of being “enemies” and “as dangerous as the Super League”.
Tebas, a long-time critic of PSG and Manchester City, said La Liga was “going to fix the PSG problem” before promising to “fight against the club states”. La Liga’s president then questioned the sustainability of PSG’s spending, and called their team “a league of legends” after signing players such as Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos, who are 34 and 35 respectively.
In a vigorous response, PSG alleged the Spanish government had financially helped La Liga clubs – and said Tebas should get his own house in order rather than attack PSG.
“Time after time, you allow yourself to publicly attack the French League, our club, our players and the fans of French football; while constantly posting insulting and defamatory statements insinuating that we do not conform to the football financial regulations, amongst other unsubstantiated statements,” PSG’s general secretary, Victoriano Melero, said in a letter to Tebas and which the Guardian has seen.
“You decided some time ago to put in place a strategy favouring the economic expansion of La Liga without having domestic financial regulations in place. Now you blame the consequences of this on others, while French football has had a system in force for over 20 years.
“It is now publicly known that certain Spanish clubs and your League are facing unsustainable levels of debt after gross mismanagement, not to mention the way Spanish football has been financed over the past decade – including by the state.”
Tebas said on Tuesday that PSG spend “more than €600m on salaries per year, while television in France will pay nothing more than €70m. They declared commercial losses 30% above the average of others in Europe … that is not sustainable.”
But Melero suggested Tebas would be better served trying to keep Real Madrid and Barcelona in line after they tried to set up the European Super League. “I am quite surprised you are not focusing more of your attention on the two clubs in your League that remain steadfastly focused on breaking up your League, and European football as a whole,” he said.
