Mediapart have raised questions over a reported €9m payment received by Jorge Mendes for Kylian Mbappé’s 2017 move from AS Monaco to PSG, because of his total lack of obvious involvement in any part of negotiations.
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Kylian Mbappé does not have an agent – he is represented by his parents, who are aided by a Parisian lawyer Delphine Verheyden. PSG and AS Monaco negotiated the deal directly. On the 30th August, PSG and Monaco “declared that not a single footballing agent… participated in the negotiation of the contract.”
Only on the morning of the 31st August is there the first whiff of official agent involvement, when Daniel Bique, Head of Legal at Monaco, changed the declaration to include the name of two agents: Italian Roberto Calenda and Jorge Mendes.
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Mendes has historically been very close to Monaco owner Rybolovlev, but the FIFA rules are very clear: an agent must be mandated in writing by a club before the start of negotiations.
For Mendes, everything appeared to be in order. His involvement was dated the 11th July, with the agent set to receive a 5% commission for the transfer of Kylian Mbappé if he goes for €180m. An amendment dated August 31st indicated that with the deal completed Mendes waste receive €7.25m and another €1.75m once PSG pay a €35m bonus to Monaco.
However, Mediapart claim that the contracts were backdated, with Football Leaks documents indicating that the agreement dated the 11th July was not signed by Monaco VP Vasilyev until September 8th, and that Mendes had still not signed it. Mediapart claim that they cannot find any documentation indicating his involvement apart from a potential discussion on the 23rd August in Monaco – a conversation worth €9m?
On the 22nd of March, 5 months before Kylian Mbappé’s transfer, Jorge Mendes sent an email to Vasilyev with nothing in the body apart from three Spanish press articles citing an interest from Real Madrid for Mbappé, according to Football Leaks.
Monaco’s Head of Communications, Bruno Skropeta, spoke to Vasilyev about the email, according to Mediapart: “Jorge is behind this, he is incredible. Is this good for us or do I pressure Jorge to stop doing this? If you do not want to sell this summer it would be best to limit this. However, if we need to up the price it is not negative.”
Mediapart question whether Mendes was paid by Monaco not for being involved in negotiating Mbappé’s move to PSG, rather for upping the ante with Real Madrid. Mendes did not respond to the French outlet’s request for comment.
The role of Roberto Calenda is just as incomprehensible – he was paid €2m by Monaco, despite having no obvious involvement – the contract concerning his money was also backdated, officially sealed on the 31st August, but not signed until the 29th September.