Having spent £199M ($258M) on Neymar, Paris St. Germain is pursuing Kylian Mbappé for a similar amount and "will likely present the sternest test thus far" of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations, according to Gabriele Marcotti of the LONDON TIMES. One of the problems with FFP, which limits the losses a club can sustain, is that "far too many people" do not "seem to understand how it works." Crucially, they "fail to grasp two aspects of FFP." You cannot say that PSG breached FFP "for the simple reason that there is no way it could have happened -- not yet anyway." FFP covers profit and loss over a three-year period. Neymar (and Mbappé, should he be signed) fall into the '17-18 season. The "earliest we will know whether UEFA believes a breach has occurred" is in the autumn of '18. The other point has to do with how FFP works and addresses whether PSG will get away with the proverbial "slap on the wrist." In '14, PSG and Man City were found to be in breach of FFP and "sanctioned with fines, spending restrictions and limits on squad registrations." By agreeing to the settlement, PSG "avoided the case being sent" to UEFA's Club Financial Control Board’s adjudicatory chamber, which is composed of independent judges. This is where "the cynics" will conclude that UEFA will "simply let PSG off easily" just as it did in '14. But there is "one key difference." Any affected club, which is to say any club in European competition, is "free to challenge the settlement." If this happens, it goes to the adjudicatory chamber. In '14, nobody appealed against the sanctions imposed on PSG arguing they "were too soft." This time, should PSG be in breach, "there is good reason to believe that Barcelona and others will oppose any settlement and force the case to go to the adjudicatory chamber" (LONDON TIMES, 8/14).
