We don’t change a winning team… really? This is not entirely the opinion of PSG leaders. The Parisian eleven which flew over the final of the Champions League against Inter was almost only made up of unspoken. The renewal seems to be the ideal formula to renew to reproduce a great season. However, the capital’s club probes the transfer market, especially in positions that have given great satisfaction at the end of the season.
Starting with the Marquinhos-Pacho central hinge. She offered very high level services, but PSG would see a reinforcement in the person of Illya Zabarnyi for the two bosses in the axis. A reinforcement between 60 and 70 million euros all the same, while behind, jostle Lucas Hernandez, Lucas Beraldo and, if he returns one day, Presnel Kimpembe.
Another little surprise: PSG is looking for a new number 9 to accompany Ousmane Demblé, even if he already benefits from a quality lining with a Gonçalo Ramos not really on departure and very respectable statistics (18 goals this season including 3 in C1). All after a year at 240 million euros in spending (Safonov, Pacho, Goué, Neves, Kvaratskhelia).
“There is fatigue, I think it shows“
Why this activity in this summer transfer window could wonder the supporters, who necessarily attached themselves to their players who became European champions. The simplest answer is before our eyes: PSG holders are on the kneecaps in this season that ends no longer, extended by a club World Cup over 5,000 km.
The internationals who also remained active during the international window which preceded the competition draw the tongue, before facing Inter Miami in the round of 16 Diamnche. “”There is fatigue, I think it shows“, said Vitinha after the 2-0 victory on Monday against the Seattle Sounders.”We feel fatigue“, the rebondi son Compatives Joao Neves. Moanluigi Donnarumma suits a”We are very tired“.
Real Madrid, Liverpool, Chelsea, three examples, three lessons
However, with its workforce which displayed 25 players at the end of last season, PSG has something to run, at least the first weeks of Ligue 1, if some feel a real need to blow. However, at the club, we seem to be aware that to build a club that counts in the European top in the very long term, renewing a typical team is no longer enough.
Take the example of Real Madrid under the Zinedine Zidane era. Benefiting from an exceptional generation of players led by Ronaldo, Benzema, Modric, Kroos, Ramos and Consort, the Madrid have become the first in history to win the Cup with big ears three times. After the first in the series, in 2016, the only recruit recorded was the return of Alvaro Morata, accompanied by the rise of some elements of Castilla (Odegaard, Diaz, Llorente, etc.). The following season? Only Théo Hernandez, who played very little under the white tunic, and Dani Ceballos, put their suitcase in the Spanish capital.
Théo Hernandez during his presentation at Real Madrid in 2017.
Credit: Getty Images
Result: in 2018/2019, the Casa Blanca, which still has all the members of its terrible generation, gets out in eighth of C1 by Ajax and finished third in Liga. Then came out at the same stadium by Manchester City in 2019/2020. Same observation for Liverpool. European champions in 2019, the Reds were counting on their undeniable (Van Dijk, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Firmino, Salah, Mané) to revive a fantastic season and their biggest recruit in the summer of the coronation is Takumi Minamino. A road trip in the knockout stages of the Champions League and a third league place was released.
And what about Chelsea who recorded only the recruitment of Romelu Lukaku after the surprise title of European champion in 2020, and who has been going on, the Mercatos completely disproportionate without managing to restore his coat of arms on the European scene.
Obviously, these examples do not make a general rule. But give the overview of a pitfall in which Paris does not want to fall. The photo of the Parisian bus under the Arc de Triomphe, players with a smile and cut in the big ears clearly visible, was superb. But PSG cannot afford to chain several new disappointing new seasons. From there to predict that management makes the right choices, there is a world.
But did Luis Campos not pushed, last winter, for the recruitment of Kvaratskhelia, while the Parisian wings were already occupied by Barcola, Dembélé and Goué? Finally, the Georgian was decisive in the race for the C1 and the final replacement of the outcome in the axis turned out to be a huge success. Anyway, a club that wins the Champions League is generally a club that works well as a whole.
