Over the course of the summer transfer window, we will take a close look at some of the biggest and best business with our ‘Transfer of the Week’ columns. This week, we turn our attention to French champions Paris Saint-Germain, who seem to be heading in a new direction this summer.
By Neel Shelat
Ever since Qatar Sports Investments’ takeover, Paris Saint-Germain have spent many a year trying to assemble the modern-day Galácticos. Having clearly established themselves as the dominant force in France, they spent hundreds of millions if not billions on the likes of Neymar, Lionel Messi, and Kylian Mbappé in recent years as they chased European glory, but it has proven ever elusive.
This summer, though, PSG’s transfer business has been the polar opposite of what they have typically done in the last decade. Instead of signing big names, they parted ways with one of the biggest superstars in world football as Mbappé joined Real Madrid. They did not sign any outright replacement, electing to divert their funds to bring in some of the most highly-rated young prospects in various positions.
A shifting transfer strategy
This window will go down as the one that cemented Paris Saint-Germain’s shift in recruitment strategy, but of course, it began a while back. Its origins can be traced to the arrival of Luís Campos, a highly-rated transfer guru with a great track record in France having assembled title-winning squads for both Monaco and Lille. His previous work focused heavily on scouting high-potential young prospects and signing them for relatively cheap fees before they fully broke out, so that is the expertise he brought to PSG.
Looking back, his imprints are clear in PSG’s transfer business right from the off. Their signings in the summer of 2022 included then-22-year-old Porto midfielder Vitinha, who has grown into one of the best performers in his position in France, as well as young Reims forward Hugo Ekitiké. Teenage full-back Nuno Mendes’ loan deal was made permanent, while none of the other signings were more than 25 years old at the time.
It should be said that many of these arrivals such as Renato Sanches and Nordi Mukiele did not exactly turn out to be resounding successes, but the shift in approach was evident. The subsequent summer’s signings, such as Bradley Barcola, Lee Kang-in, Randal Kolo Muani, Manuel Ugarte and Gonçalo Ramos went on to make a much bigger impact on the first team, allowing Campos to advance his strategy.
Last January, PSG signed 20-year-old defender Lucas Beraldo and 18-year-old midfielder Gabriel Moscardo for €20 million each from Brazil clubs São Paulo and Corinthians respectively. They have not featured much for the first team yet (though Beraldo did play in some big games amidst an injury crisis at left centre-back), but that is not a problem because they were brought in as ones for the future.
Summer signings
Of course, Paris Saint-Germain needed to strengthen their squad besides signing prospects for the future in the summer, and they have managed to do both things at once.
Their most recent signing – that of Désiré Doué from Rennes for €50 million – epitomises that approach. The 19-year-old attacker already has a couple of senior seasons under his belt for Rennes and stood out as one of the most prolific and exciting dribblers in Ligue 1 last season, putting up some eye-popping numbers (per 90).
Clearly, Doué is someone who can make an instant impact for this PSG side. He will undoubtedly get his fair share of game time on the left wing spot vacated by Mbappé’s departure, but at the same time, he also has a lot of room to improve. In particular, his decision-making and composure in the final third could use some work if he is to convert his mazy dribbles into goals and assists more consistently.It is another 19-year-old for whom the Parisians paid the biggest transfer fee this summer, namely João Neves who earned Benfica €60 million. That is quite a big number, and yet it looks relatively cheap given the fact that a nine-digit figure was being touted not that long ago. The Portuguese midfielder is arguably much more polished than Doué and could very soon become a world-class ball-winning midfielder.
PSG have made two other signings so far, again none over 25 years old. One of them is 22-year-old centre-back Willian Pacho, a confident and comfortable ball-player, and the other is goalkeeper Matvey Safonov, who should be a backup option behind Gianluigi Donnarumma but will hope to keep his Italian counterpart honest.
Youth takeover
With so many youngsters being signed, it is only natural that they make up a much bigger chunk of Paris Saint-Germain’s squad and therefore get much more game time. In fact, their starting XI for the season-opener against Le Havre was the youngest in the club’s history.
Among the starters was 16-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye, a highly-rated academy prospect who is yet to sign a professional contract (making it hard to find a picture for his profile!). The decision to start him undoubtedly involved an element of convincing him to stay at the club, which is something PSG would never have done just a few years ago.
Le Parisiens have a terrible track record of neglecting top-class prospects in the QSI era, with the list including big names like Kingsley Coman, Mike Maignan, Christopher Nkunku and Moussa Diaby. Now, they finally seem to have realised the massive potential of their academy in developing the next Parisian superstars, having opened a new state-of-the-art training centre last year with a good chunk of facilities exclusively for the academy. The heavy involvement of Warren Zaïre-Emery in their 2023/24 campaign as well as the most recent line-up underscore the fact that PSG are committed to this new approach from top to bottom.
Only time can tell whether PSG’s new approach will finally bring them the Champions League title they have so desperately chased for the last decade, but it often transpires that wanting something too badly has the opposite of the desired effect. At the very least, fans and experts alike can surely conclude that PSG are headed in the direct direction now.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every PSG game live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.