PSG's Layvin Kurzawa Target of Blackmail After Didier Deschamps Video Criticism

Paris Saint-Germain defender Layvin Kurzawa was the target of a failed blackmail attempt over the summer, it has been confirmed.

As reported by Agence France-Presse (h/t AS), the left-back was captured on film criticising France manager Didier Deschamps in a Paris shisha bar and was told to pay €200,000 to prevent the footage being released in public.

"In this tape the player makes critical comments at the France national manager," said a judicial source quoted in the initial piece.

As noted in the report, arrests were made after Kurzawa contacted the authorities, with the police setting up a sting.

According to Europe 1 radio station (h/t Neil McLeman of the Daily Mirror), the police tapped into the phones of the plotters.

Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

"A police officer established contact with the gang acting as an intermediary for the player to set up a rendezvous," it's noted, per AFP. "But investigations suggested the gang planned to assault Kurzawa outside his home in the Paris suburbs."

Kurzawa is not the first France international to be the target of this type of extortion plot. 

As relayed by McLeman, Fenerbahce winger Mathieu Valbuena was the subject of blackmail regarding a sex tape in 2015; Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema has not been selected for France since October 2015 after it was alleged he helped those seeking to swindle money from his international team-mate.