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PSG’s transition and the post-Mbappe promise.

PSG’s transition and the post-Mbappe promise.

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Fifteen years ago, football was vastly different. It used to be that buying the best individuals would almost guarantee silverware, but the sport is ever changing, and that’s no longer the case.

By Alex Roberts

QSi’s (Qatar Sports Investments) PSG project started in 2011, right at the back end of this ‘Galáctico’ era. Clubs like Real Madrid and Chelsea were the blueprint for success, spending vast amounts of cash and trusting the players bought in to go on to the pitch and get the job done. 

Just a few years before, Pep Guardiola heralded the emergence of ‘system coaches’. All of a sudden, players were under intense instruction, with managers micromanaging every aspect of their game to get the best out of the resources they had. 

Of course, it does help when one of those resources is Lionel Messi.

PSG’s rise directly correlated with the change of eras, a club that belonged in the early 2000’s operating in a manner that would soon become obsolete. Astute tactical decisions and data had overridden individual brilliance. 

Zlatan Ibrahimović and Thiago Silva were the OGs, joining the club in the summer of 2012 from Italian giants AC Milan, becoming the poster boys for an unprecedented age of domestic domination. 

David Beckham joined from LA Galaxy to add some glamour and boost shirt sales, a prelude to Messi joining the club over a decade later. He didn’t play much, but ‘Golden Balls’ helped promote the project. 

Since then, PSG have won 10 Ligue 1 titles, six Coupe de France, and six Coupe de la Ligues. They have become an unstoppable force at home but have a habit of faltering on the European stage time and time again. 

Neymar’s move from Barcelona in 2017 for an incredible €222 million was widely regarded as a huge coup for the club. The Brazilian had finally emerged from Messi’s shadow to lead his new side to European glory. 

While Neymar had his successes in Paris, it’s hard to suggest the move was value for money. Injuries and off-field incidents overshadowed his performances for the club, and often earned him the ire of PSG’s ultras.

By the time he left the club, malaise had been left to fester and spread throughout the squad like a tumour. The novelty of domestic success had worn off, and continued failure on the continent had lead to toxicity. 

When Messi announced he was leaving Barcelona, his move to France felt inevitable. Even the greatest player of all time has an expiration date, and PSG were the only European club crazy enough to get out the cheque book. 

Again, it’s not like Messi was a failure in Paris, 22 goals in 58 Ligue 1 appearances is a decent return but PSG’s insistence on shoehorning superstars into their side made them easy to play against. In the end, the move will be remembered as a very expensive PR stunt. 

Youngsters burst onto the scene all the time, but not quite like Kylian Mbappé did. Mbappé ended the 2016–17 season with 26 goals from 44 matches in all competitions, as Monaco won the Ligue 1 title. 

PSG weren’t about to miss out on such a talent, and they moved heaven and Earth to bring the then 18-year-old back to Paris, his hometown. The transfer was an initial loan, becoming permanent in 2018 for €180 million. 

The rest is history. Mbappé is now one of, if not THE best player on the planet, leading France to the World Cup in 2018, and nearly doing the same thing in 2022, narrowly missing out to Argentina in the final.

Playing hard to get last season was a risk that paid off. Mbappé squeezed PSG for everything they had and was reportedly granted decision making powers unlike any player before him.

Now he’s finally set to leave the club after flirting with Real Madrid for the past few summers. All the signs were there. Metaphorical forearm touches, hair twirls, and eye contact have seduced Los Blancos. 

Fame breeds ego, and with ego comes arrogance, leading to division. The PSG dressing room has been filled with big names since the takeover, but potentially not for much longer. 

With Mbappé set to leave in the summer, the 2024/25 season could be PSG’s first without a genuine superstar at the club since the Qatari takeover, and suddenly, it’s starting to look like a cohesive squad filled with young talent. 

This season, the team has a solid structure, and we can see the patterns are more defined with master tactician Luis Enrique in the dugout. It may not be as pretty or marketable, but no longer do they rely on moments of genius. Their 4-1 win against Barcelona in the Champions League shows exactly that.

Unfortunately, the 2-0 aggregate loss to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals showed the side of PSG fans are more used to seeing on the European stage. Football can be cruel after all. 

Last summer and January’s transfer window have both indicated a willingness to learn and change. Yes, large amounts of money have been spent, notably on Ousmane Dembélé (€50 million), Randal Kolo Muani (€80 million), and Gonçalo Ramos (€65 million), but such are the consequences of their actions. 

Xavi Simons, Bradley Barcola, Lucas Beraldo, and Gabriel Moscardo all have massive potential, but most importantly, they’re young enough to be moulded by a top-quality coach like Enrique. 

Add existing players like Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi and Marquinhos to the mix and PSG have a healthy blend of experience and youth able to challenge any other starting XI in Europe. 

Additions will have to be made, any team in the world would miss Mbappé, but the 25-year-old’s departure frees up funds that would have otherwise been spent on his immense wage and bonuses. 

PSG’s transition will take some time and fans will need to be patient. Thankfully for Enrique and co, they have a huge advantage over every other club in the same boat, Paris itself. 

No city in the world produces talent like the French capital. Mbappé, N’Golo Kante, and Thierry Henry are just a few players to learn their trade in the Parisian suburbs. The list goes on and on. Odds are if you can think of any French footballer from the past 20 years, they grew up in the Greater Paris area. 

It’s a resource PSG have never truly embraced. Some of the game’s biggest names have walked through PSG Academy’s doors only to leave for greener pastures when first-team opportunities proved hard to come by. 

One player has broken the mould, becoming one of the most exciting young players in Europe, and that’s Warren Zaïre-Emery. The 18-year-old has come through the ranks at PSG and may well be the future of the club. 

A defensive midfielder with remarkable technical abilities, Zaïre-Emery is good at winning the ball and playmaking from deep, providing structure to his side and providing balance in the middle of the park. 

Calm on the ball and good at reading the game, he is regarded as wise beyond his years, able to take on leadership responsibilities while maintaining a calm and disciplined attitude.

Predictably from Greater Paris, Zaïre-Emery grew up supporting PSG. He’s been seen in the stands, leading the club’s ultras, singing with his fellow supporters on numerous occasions. Building the squad around him is a sure-fire way of getting fans on side. 

PSG have been stuck in a cycle, doing the same thing over and over, all the while expecting a different outcome each time. Change is needed if they’re to attain their ultimate aim of lifting the Champions League trophy. 

It may take years, it may not happen at all, nothing in football is ever certain, but building a squad, instead of relying on complacent superstars is a good start. It’s a new era for PSG, and they would be wise to avoid previous temptations. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Eredivisie live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

PSG’s transition and the post-Mbappe promise.

Fifteen years ago, football was vastly different. It used to be that buying the best individuals would almost guarantee silverware, but the sport is ever changing, and that’s no longer the case.

By Alex Roberts

QSi’s (Qatar Sports Investments) PSG project started in 2011, right at the back end of this ‘Galáctico’ era. Clubs like Real Madrid and Chelsea were the blueprint for success, spending vast amounts of cash and trusting the players bought in to go on to the pitch and get the job done. 

Just a few years before, Pep Guardiola heralded the emergence of ‘system coaches’. All of a sudden, players were under intense instruction, with managers micromanaging every aspect of their game to get the best out of the resources they had. 

Of course, it does help when one of those resources is Lionel Messi.

PSG’s rise directly correlated with the change of eras, a club that belonged in the early 2000’s operating in a manner that would soon become obsolete. Astute tactical decisions and data had overridden individual brilliance. 

Zlatan Ibrahimović and Thiago Silva were the OGs, joining the club in the summer of 2012 from Italian giants AC Milan, becoming the poster boys for an unprecedented age of domestic domination. 

David Beckham joined from LA Galaxy to add some glamour and boost shirt sales, a prelude to Messi joining the club over a decade later. He didn’t play much, but ‘Golden Balls’ helped promote the project. 

Since then, PSG have won 10 Ligue 1 titles, six Coupe de France, and six Coupe de la Ligues. They have become an unstoppable force at home but have a habit of faltering on the European stage time and time again. 

Neymar’s move from Barcelona in 2017 for an incredible €222 million was widely regarded as a huge coup for the club. The Brazilian had finally emerged from Messi’s shadow to lead his new side to European glory. 

While Neymar had his successes in Paris, it’s hard to suggest the move was value for money. Injuries and off-field incidents overshadowed his performances for the club, and often earned him the ire of PSG’s ultras.

By the time he left the club, malaise had been left to fester and spread throughout the squad like a tumour. The novelty of domestic success had worn off, and continued failure on the continent had lead to toxicity. 

When Messi announced he was leaving Barcelona, his move to France felt inevitable. Even the greatest player of all time has an expiration date, and PSG were the only European club crazy enough to get out the cheque book. 

Again, it’s not like Messi was a failure in Paris, 22 goals in 58 Ligue 1 appearances is a decent return but PSG’s insistence on shoehorning superstars into their side made them easy to play against. In the end, the move will be remembered as a very expensive PR stunt. 

Youngsters burst onto the scene all the time, but not quite like Kylian Mbappé did. Mbappé ended the 2016–17 season with 26 goals from 44 matches in all competitions, as Monaco won the Ligue 1 title. 

PSG weren’t about to miss out on such a talent, and they moved heaven and Earth to bring the then 18-year-old back to Paris, his hometown. The transfer was an initial loan, becoming permanent in 2018 for €180 million. 

The rest is history. Mbappé is now one of, if not THE best player on the planet, leading France to the World Cup in 2018, and nearly doing the same thing in 2022, narrowly missing out to Argentina in the final.

Playing hard to get last season was a risk that paid off. Mbappé squeezed PSG for everything they had and was reportedly granted decision making powers unlike any player before him.

Now he’s finally set to leave the club after flirting with Real Madrid for the past few summers. All the signs were there. Metaphorical forearm touches, hair twirls, and eye contact have seduced Los Blancos. 

Fame breeds ego, and with ego comes arrogance, leading to division. The PSG dressing room has been filled with big names since the takeover, but potentially not for much longer. 

With Mbappé set to leave in the summer, the 2024/25 season could be PSG’s first without a genuine superstar at the club since the Qatari takeover, and suddenly, it’s starting to look like a cohesive squad filled with young talent. 

This season, the team has a solid structure, and we can see the patterns are more defined with master tactician Luis Enrique in the dugout. It may not be as pretty or marketable, but no longer do they rely on moments of genius. Their 4-1 win against Barcelona in the Champions League shows exactly that.

Unfortunately, the 2-0 aggregate loss to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals showed the side of PSG fans are more used to seeing on the European stage. Football can be cruel after all. 

Last summer and January’s transfer window have both indicated a willingness to learn and change. Yes, large amounts of money have been spent, notably on Ousmane Dembélé (€50 million), Randal Kolo Muani (€80 million), and Gonçalo Ramos (€65 million), but such are the consequences of their actions. 

Xavi Simons, Bradley Barcola, Lucas Beraldo, and Gabriel Moscardo all have massive potential, but most importantly, they’re young enough to be moulded by a top-quality coach like Enrique. 

Add existing players like Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi and Marquinhos to the mix and PSG have a healthy blend of experience and youth able to challenge any other starting XI in Europe. 

Additions will have to be made, any team in the world would miss Mbappé, but the 25-year-old’s departure frees up funds that would have otherwise been spent on his immense wage and bonuses. 

PSG’s transition will take some time and fans will need to be patient. Thankfully for Enrique and co, they have a huge advantage over every other club in the same boat, Paris itself. 

No city in the world produces talent like the French capital. Mbappé, N’Golo Kante, and Thierry Henry are just a few players to learn their trade in the Parisian suburbs. The list goes on and on. Odds are if you can think of any French footballer from the past 20 years, they grew up in the Greater Paris area. 

It’s a resource PSG have never truly embraced. Some of the game’s biggest names have walked through PSG Academy’s doors only to leave for greener pastures when first-team opportunities proved hard to come by. 

One player has broken the mould, becoming one of the most exciting young players in Europe, and that’s Warren Zaïre-Emery. The 18-year-old has come through the ranks at PSG and may well be the future of the club. 

A defensive midfielder with remarkable technical abilities, Zaïre-Emery is good at winning the ball and playmaking from deep, providing structure to his side and providing balance in the middle of the park. 

Calm on the ball and good at reading the game, he is regarded as wise beyond his years, able to take on leadership responsibilities while maintaining a calm and disciplined attitude.

Predictably from Greater Paris, Zaïre-Emery grew up supporting PSG. He’s been seen in the stands, leading the club’s ultras, singing with his fellow supporters on numerous occasions. Building the squad around him is a sure-fire way of getting fans on side. 

PSG have been stuck in a cycle, doing the same thing over and over, all the while expecting a different outcome each time. Change is needed if they’re to attain their ultimate aim of lifting the Champions League trophy. 

It may take years, it may not happen at all, nothing in football is ever certain, but building a squad, instead of relying on complacent superstars is a good start. It’s a new era for PSG, and they would be wise to avoid previous temptations. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Eredivisie live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.