PSG’s Summer of Change
When one thinks of Paris Saint-Germain in the transfer market, the mind often drifts to the enormous sums they have tossed around to bolster their squad with some of the world’s best players.
€222 million for Neymar, €180 million for Kylian Mbappe, €65 million for Edinson Cavani, and €60 million for Achraf Hakimi are just a few of the jaw-dropping transfers that PSG has completed in the past decade. All of those listed transfers have mainly been successful so far. However, many of their other major deals, such as Mauro Icardi, Lucas Moura, and Javier Pastore, all of which cost over €40 million, did not hit.
In truth, the most expensive deals have been great because they brought in top-echelon players like Neymar or Mbappe, which made it nearly impossible for them to fail. However, building the rest of the team around them has been a massive struggle to find consistency and quality for good prices.
Since their current ownership, Qatar Sports Investments, took control of the club and placed Leonardo in control as sporting director in 2011, PSG has often been guilty of throwing money at players blindly without properly scouting who will fit in at the club both on and off the field. They hit on bringing in Marco Verratti for a rare bargain of €13 million back in 2012, but since then have spent a combined €191.9 million on the likes of Yohan Cabaye, Grzegorz Kyrchoiwak, Julian Draxler, Leandro Paredes, Idrissa Gana Gueye, and Danilo Pereira.
That list of names is not exciting, and really only Paredes has become a reliable option to play consistently, but he has never completely marked his spot down in the first eleven.
QSI’s Nasser Al-Khelafi and former PSG sporting director Leonardo
All of the midfielders that have failed at PSG aren’t necessarily bad players, but Draxler is an example of someone who isn’t a natural midfield fit in such a top-heavy side. And while Krychowiak’s player profile was what they needed, he just wasn’t good enough to help PSG improve on the field. In short, the good players brought in didn’t fit, and the ones who did fit weren’t good enough. On top of all that, they were (or still are) on massive contracts that are hard to move.
The summer of 2021 was the one that PSG thought would take them to new heights as a club. Gini Wijnaldum, Gigi Donnarumma, Nuno Mendes, Sergio Ramos, Pereira, Hakimi, and of course Messi were all acquired for a total of, not including wages, less than €100 million. Simply put, very little changed. You can add Wijnaldum to the laundry list of failed midfielders, Ramos played 13 matches in an injury-riddled campaign, Pereira was quite uninspiring, and even Messi didn’t really fit in at the club until after they had crashed out of the Champions League to Real Madrid in the Round of 16.
Hakimi, Donnarumma, and Mendes all did well and are young players who have the potential to become the best in the world at their respective positions. Still, even their bright seasons faltered in that infamous loss in Madrid, including when Donnarumma’s mistake led to Madrid’s first goal.
Leo Messi headlined PSG’s talented transfer arrivals in 2021
Fast forward to 2022, and the work they have done so far could lead to many PSG fans believing this is the summer that truly changes the club's direction.
First and foremost, they locked down Mbappe for three more years and finally got rid of Leonardo, replacing him with perhaps the most heralded sporting director in world football, Luis Campos. Then, the next move, get rid of the flashy manager who couldn’t get it done in Mauricio Pochettino and bring in the no-nonsense character of Cristophe Galtier. Galtier is a proven winner with smaller clubs and has so far brought a mentality and grit that PSG sorely lacked, not to mention his more structured tactics.
Galtier’s new 3-4-3 formation has put Mendes in Hakimi in better positions to succeed, taken less pressure off Ramos physically, and most importantly, provided more protection for the uber-talented trio of Neymar, Mbappe, and Messi to take plays off defensively. Mendes and Hakimi now provide the width as well, bringing their three world-class forwards closer together and closer to the goal.
Neymar already has 3 goals and 3 assists in just two games so far this season
Finally, and maybe most importantly, Campos’s influence has most significantly been felt in the transfer market. They have finally found bargains on high-level players who should fit properly into their roles in Paris.
Up front, it’s Hugo Ekitike, a 20-year-old, versatile French talent who can learn from the most talented front three in the world while growing into his role at his first big club. At the back, they’ve sprung a deal for Nordi Mukiele, a 24-year-old starting-level player who will provide cover for older players such as Ramos and fill in at right-back if necessary. The midfield, though, is where a major transformation has happened. Renato Sanches, also 24, was snapped up from 2021 Ligue 1 champions Lille, and he will provide athleticism, burst, and all-around box-to-box action that adds a new element to the PSG midfield.
Vitinha, just 22, was brought in from Porto, and he looks like the perfect fit next to Verratti or Sanches as a tempo setter who will stay calm while the rest of the team bombards opponents' goals. Finally, they are seemingly moments away from officially completing a deal for Fabian Ruiz, who offers a similar profile to Vitinha, albeit perhaps with a bit more attacking presence in the final third.
Vitinha was the only one of these players who has truly cost roughly market value, which was €40 million. Mukiele cost just €13.5 million, Ekitike is a loan with an option, not the obligation, to buy, Ruiz will likely be less than €25 million, and most impressively, Sanches was only €10 million. Campos has brought in versatile young players who will fill needed roles at the club and were available for low-risk fees because of their contracts running down at other clubs. He has been smart, simple, and rational, which are not words often associated with PSG.
Renato Sanches to PSG is one of the bargains of the summer
To start the season, PSG has thumped Nantes and Clermont Foot 4-0 and 5-0, with Mbappe yet to make his first appearance due to injury. However, Neymar and Messi are firing on all cylinders, the midfield is composed and creative, and the defense has been impenetrable off the ball and critical for build-up play. They have not played difficult competition yet, but the signs on and off the field signal a changed club finally acting like they have a point to prove.
When the Champions League starts, we will learn more, and the business end of the season is a long way away, but if their calm but clever transfer window is any indication of how the year will go, it may finally be PSG’s year on the biggest stage.