\n<\/p>\n
Paris St-Germain have threatened Lyon owner John Textor with legal action unless he stops what the French champions feel are “defamatory and damaging statements” about the club.<\/b><\/p>\n
PSG believe they have been left with no alternative other than to respond to Textor\u2019s interview this week with Brazilian publication Globo.<\/p>\n
In it, Textor, who through his Eagle Football Holdings group is a majority shareholder in Lyon and the biggest shareholder in Premier League club Crystal Palace, said he was competing against “a country, not an owner” and that PSG were a “model of unbridled spending, without restrictions”.<\/p>\n
PSG have been majority owned since 2011 by Qatar Sports Investments, which has links with the Qatar Investment Authority – the country\u2019s sovereign wealth fund.<\/p>\n
In a letter signed by PSG\u2019s general secretary Victoriano Melero, seen by BBC Sport, the club has called Textor\u2019s comments “false, incendiary, undignified and nonsensical”.<\/p>\n
They add: \u201cWe would like to respond to a few of your most unwarranted smears that are particularly false, hypocritical, and disrespectful not only to PSG but the wider French football family.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou falsely state PSG has ‘a model of unbridled spending without restrictions’ while ignoring the fact your own club has had significant issues with Uefa and DNCG restrictions under your management.”<\/p>\n
French football’s financial watchdog, the DNCG, announced in July last year it would monitor Lyon’s transfers and wage bill, external<\/span><\/a> for the 2023-24 season after ruling the Ligue 1 club did not provide sufficient financial guarantees.<\/p>\n The measures were lifted in December after the DNCG approved Lyon’s new budget., external<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n