Kylian Mbappé. Getty/Franck Fife Paris Saint-Germain has been accused of hiring an agency to carry out an online smear campaign against Kylian Mbappé. Mediapart claims PSG hired an agency to criticize Mbappé after he suggested that he wanted to leave the club in 2019.
PSG denies the allegations. French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain has been accused of hiring an digital agency to carry out an online smear campaign against the media and club personnel — including, most notably, star player Kylian Mbappé in 2019. According to an investigation published on Wednesday by French online newspaper Mediapart, PSG hired an agency to create fake Twitter accounts, one of which criticized Mbappé after he suggested that he wanted to leave the club.
After Mbappé later confirmed in a television interview that he wanted to stay in Paris, a Twitter account under the name of Paname Squad – which, according to Mediapart, was in contact with PSG – congratulated the striker on his decision and urged him to “work in silence. “”No need for too many declarations. We need a response on the pitch,” the account tweeted, according to Mediapart.
The same account later slammed the decision to give Mbappé the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award, adding that it was time for him to take on “more responsibilities. “Other accounts also tweeted negative comments about the former PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot, according to Mediapart. At the time, Rabiot and his mother Veronique, who is also his agent, were involved in an argument with PSG over the player’s behavior.
PSG denied creating a smear campaign against Mbappé and Rabiot, telling Mediapart: “The club has never contracted an agency to harm individuals or institutions. “The club later told RMC Sport: “Do you really think we hire people to troll our own players? It’s absolutely nothing to do with the club. “We spent the last year renewing Mbappé with the biggest contract in world sport and involving President Macron, and you think that at the same time we were trolling him?”The publishing of Mediapart’s investigation comes just a day after reports emerged that Mbappé wants to leave PSG in January.
French football expert Julien Laurens told BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday that the 23-year-old, who signed a new three-year deal in the summer, wants out of the club because he feels “betrayed. “”All the things the club promised him when he signed that new deal until 2025 have not happened,” said Laurens. “The promises they would sign a new striker so he could play in his best position off the striker, that Neymar wouldn’t be there and he would be sold, that they would sign a centre back, and he would be at the centre of the project.
“All of these things have not happened. “Later on Tuesday, PSG’s sporting director Luis Campos denied Laurens’ claim, telling French TV station Canal Plus: “I am with Kylian Mbappé every day. “He has never talked to me about leaving in January.
“World Cup winner Mbappé has won 11 trophies at PSG, including four Ligue 1 titles, since joining the club in 2017, scoring 183 goals in 230 games. Lionel Messi. GettyNurPhotoPSG isn’t the first major European soccer club to be accused of hiring an agency to attack its own players.
In February 2020, Radio station SER Catalunya claimed FC Barcelona paid a firm known as “I3 Ventures” over $1 million to create fake accounts on Facebook and Twitter and attack Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, and a host of former players and managers. SER Catalunya’s report said the club hired the agency to protect the image of President Josep Maria Bartomeu by bringing down those who have publicly disagreed with him, as well as any potential rivals for the club presidency in future. Barcelona acknowledged I3 as a “service provider” to the club, but denied using it to launch a smear campaign.
After standing down as president in October 2020, Bartomeu was arrested on corruption charges in February 2021. He and his regime were alleged to have misappropriated club funds by paying up to six times the market value for the services of I3 Ventures dating back to 2017. Bartomeu was released from jail in early March 2021.
The investigation remains ongoing. Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/psg-hired-agency-to-troll-kylian-mbappe-online-claims-mediapart-investigation-2022-10
