UEFA’s cowardice may cost Real Madrid a star player who dreams of them

Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, and other traditional, fan-owned clubs are finding it increasingly difficult to compete in a football landscape run by state-owned clubs that are gaining more and more influence within governing bodies.

Remember FFP? Financial Fair Play was supposed to be a necessary regulation to the economy that is the transfer market, putting a cap on spending and banning teams who cleared this cap so as to avoid monopolies or unfair situations developing in the transfer market.

FFP is dead. PSG, whose president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is the ECA Chairman and close with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, killed it. They have Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe on wages potentially exceeding a combined 200 million euros, having signed Mbappe to a reported 300 million euro signing bonus after a jaw-dropping summer 2021 transfer window with just seven million euros in sales and a bevy of signings (Messi among them).

Far from being sanctioned for a staggering wage bill or an imbalance in transfer incomings vs. outgoings, PSG are free to continue destabilizing the transfer market.

PSG are trying to sign Aurelien Tchouameni for 100 million euros

They are now trying to hijack Real Madrid’s bid for Aurelien Tchouameni. The midfielder has already turned down PSG, but the club can offer almost an infinite amount of money. Therefore, they are raising the bid to Monaco to try and force their Ligue 1 rivals into selling to them with an offer they cannot refuse. And in turn, that would force Tchouameni to join them against his dream and preference for Madrid, even though Madrid are willing to pay a totally reasonable 80 million euros plus 20 million euros in bonuses. (In fact, that is MORE than reasonable!)

So wait, 80-100 million euros is not enough to sign a defensive midfielder? That could be the case, depending on how high PSG go just to destabilize the bid for a player who, again, had no intention of joining them in the first place. He wants a new challenge away from Ligue 1.

According to a report from Relevo’s Sergio Santos, PSG is offering Monaco a transfer amount that Real Madrid cannot match. Therefore, unless Tchouameni digs his heels in and says he will only move to Madrid, Monaco may very well sell the player to their rivals, having already dragged this transfer negotiation due to PSG’s looming presence and untapped money.

UEFA are cowards. They will not enforce any form of FFP. It is ironic, because Ceferin’s buddy Al-Khelaifi could only sign away Messi from Barcelona because LaLiga were willing to enforce fair-play measures in the form of a salary cap. Barça had to wave goodbye to Messi after being unable to register him, and LaLiga lost the star they marketed everything around.

But UEFA, unlike Javier Tebas, who spoke the truth about PSG’s financial breach due to the Mbappe contract, are willing to let PSG do anything to win the Champions League and complete the goal of a sportswashing project that already cost literal lives of migrant workers for the World Cup.

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So in comparison, Real Madrid losing a star player like Tchouameni is inconsequential. But for Tchouameni, it could mean the loss of a dream. For football, it could be another example of one standard of rules being different for a powerful, state-owned club that has UEFA and its own league in its pocket.