PSG accused of blackmail and keeping key players 'imprisoned' as Marco Verratti's former agent claims midfielder had Barcelona transfer blocked

• Di Campli no longer represents Verratti
• Linked with Barca in 2016 and 2017
• Wanted move, Di Campli claims

WHAT HAPPENED? The explosive claims come amid a saga surrounding Kylian Mbappe's future, as he has informed the club that he will not sign a new contract amid links with Real Madrid. Di Campli now claims that when Verratti wanted to move to Barcelona, PSG made it clear that he would be sacked by the midfielder. Indeed, in 2017, the Italy midfielder did change agents, moving to Mino Raiola's stable, but the motivations for that switch have never been proven.

WHAT THEY SAID: Speaking to Relevo, the agent said: "In Paris the players are imprisoned, you never do what they want but the club; it's a prison and there is blackmail.

"PSG's attitude is always blackmail. We had decided to go to Barcelona. That, obviously, the emir did not like. Al Khelaifi even told me that if I kept trying to do the operation with Barca, Verratti was going to let me (go). And that's how it ended up happening. I'm sure Marco was scared, he won't admit it, but that's how it is."

WHAT'S MORE: Verratti's ex-agent went on to take aim at PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and other key figures behind the scenes at the club, adding: "From the day he arrived, Verratti was in jail. When we spoke with Barcelona, PSG met him several times, they told him that they were going to sign Neymar, that they were going to do a project around him... If you go against them everything becomes something personal.

"The ex-president [Josep Maria] Bartomeu did not stop calling Al Khelaifi and he never, never answered the phone. My experience with them is very bad, very bad. They only care about money. It's a club that has no soul. They don't let them leave because the emir and Al Khelaifi think that everything is 'buyable', that they can conquer the world with money alone. But it has already been seen that it is not possible."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: PSG are likely to fiercely deny such accusations, but it remains to be seen if they will do so formally.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT? Verratti is set to play for PSG in pre-season as they prepare for games against the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr and Inter Milan.