Sports
PSG’s ‘end the glitter’ mantra has killed off galacticos with Kylian Mbappe a relic of the past
It will be a new Paris St-Germain who face Arsenal in the Champions League. For the first time in the era of Qatari ownership, dating back to 2011, there will not be a single “galácticos” in their team.
From Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the first “big” signing to arrive, to Kylian Mbappé, the last to leave, PSG have for 13 years been the club of the new galácticos; a club determined to focus on brand to announce themselves on the world stage.
Now they are a different PSG. A PSG in what is being termed, by senior sources, as in “phase two of the QSI (Qatar Sports Investments) era”.
What does that mean? To understand the extraordinary change the club have undergone in the past two years, it is worth revisiting an interview that president Nasser Al-Khelaifi gave to Le Parisien newspaper in June 2022.
“Perhaps we should change our slogan,” Al-Khelaifi declared. “Dream bigger is good, but today we must be realistic, we don’t want flashy, bling-bling anymore, it’s the end of the glitter.”
No more “bling-bling” landed at PSG. Al-Khelaifi meant it. Remarkably, since then, Sergio Ramos, Marco Verratti, Mauro Icardi, Neymar, Ángel Di María, Lionel Messi and, finally, Mbappé have all left. Not that all were “bling-bling”, but neither did they fit with PSG’s new approach.
Which was what? Phase one had worked, to a large degree. QSI had taken PSG from the brink of relegation to the French second division to being a powerhouse of European football with revenues touching €800 million (£668.4 million) a year but admits it probably had to overpay to do so. Even so, it was understandable. It is a well-trodden path for any club wanting to make an impact, and PSG certainly did that.
But it took them only so far. They had reached the Champions League final, but did not win it, while financial fair play rules were making it more difficult and, to be honest, there was a realisation there was too much “player power”, which was perhaps inevitable, given the spectacular recruitment.
An indication that there was a new mood was shown when Messi was fined after taking an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia in May last year and was also suspended for two weeks for missing training. He later apologised.
The plan was to make a bold change: football first, greater financial sustainability and harnessing young French talent. It also had to align with the opening of their impressive €300 million (£250.4 million) training ground at Poissy, west of Paris, with the long-term aim of having the majority of the first team drawn from the academy.
PSG also know that Paris – along with London and Sao Paulo in Brazil – produces the most footballers in the world and yet until recently most have fallen through the net. There were 11 Parisians in the French squad that lost the last World Cup final but, at that time, only Mbappé played for PSG.
There was another mantra: the new star of PSG is the team. Exciting young players such as Warren Zaïre-Emery, 18, Bradley Barcola, 22, and 24-year-old Vitinha have emerged and have burgeoning reputations. In all, 20 new players were signed in the past two seasons, with the average age just 21 years and two months. Significantly, in 2020 it was 28.5 years.
Obviously, PSG have regarded replacing Mbappé – who finally left for Real Madrid having run down his contract – as the biggest challenge. The forward became known as “King Kylian” and that was not necessarily always meant as a compliment, as relations turned fractious and are still being played out legally as he demands the payment of €55 million (£46 million) he believes he is owed. PSG insist he offered to give it up in agreement that he would not leave them without some recompense.
The post-Mbappé strategy has been indicative. PSG bet on even more youngsters – midfielders Joao Neves, 20, and Gabriel Moscardo, 19, and centre-back Willian Pacho, 22 – and, while they spent in the summer, they were only the fifth-biggest in Europe.
Just two deals – signing Neves for €70 million (£59.3 million) and forward Désiré Doué for €50 million (£41.8 million) – were in the top 20 most expensive. And this from a club that broke the world record twice in one window to bring in first Neymar, for €222 million (£185.5 million) and then Mbappé – initially on loan – for €180 million (£150.4 million) in 2018.
Youth team talents Ibrahim Mbaye, Senny Mayulu and Yoram Zague have also emerged, following Zaïre-Emery into the squad. Mbaye, a forward, became the club’s youngest player at 16 years and six months when he started in the 4-1 win against Le Havre in August, a fixture in which they fielded the youngest team in their history (average age 22 years and 192 days). From the old guard, only captain Marquinhos – certainly not bling-bling – remains.
What has also changed is that PSG have, at last, become a trading club and made €10 million (£8.4 million) for the sale of 17-year-old centre-back Joane Gadou to Red Bull Salzburg, which was a record fee received for a French youth team player.
PSG have started strongly. They are top of the French league – with Barcola scoring two more goals in the 3-1 win over Rennes on Friday – and beat Girona 1-0 in their first Champions League group game. They bridle at suggestions the French league is a “farmers’ league” and point to Bayern Munich’s dominance, last season apart, in Germany and Manchester City’s supremacy in England.
Costs have been vastly reduced. The ratio of salaries and fees to revenue is 62 per cent which PSG claim is one of the best in Europe. Sources admit a few years ago “it was through the roof”.
PSG is also not now purely Qatari-owned, having sold a fifth stake to the American investment group Arctos Partners, which valued the club at €4 billion. Arctos’s main task is helping to finance and build a new stadium, away from the Parc des Princes, which the club have been prevented from buying. PSG do not own that venue and it is hampering their growth.
There is another incredible statistic, which points to the new approach. Astonishingly, this is the first time during the QSI era that a coach and a sporting director, currently Luis Enrique and Luis Campos, have worked together for a second season. In previous campaigns, one or other has changed – and often paid the price for a Champions League exit – and that could never be a healthy state of affairs. PSG believe this approach, and their move into the so-called Phase Two will help them finally be European champions.
Dembélé axed for Arsenal after Enrique spat
Ousmane Dembélé has been dropped from the Paris St-Germain squad that is travelling to London to face Arsenal.
The France international is understood to have been left out by head coach Luis Enrique after a disagreement between the pair following last Friday’s victory over Rennes.
Dembélé started the 3-1 win which maintained PSG’s unbeaten start to the season and was substituted late on. However it has transpired he had a heated exchange with Enrique afterwards and the Spaniard, who is known as a disciplinarian, has decided to leave him out of such a crunch game. It is believed that Enrique criticised Dembélé’s performance with the player reacting to what was said.
It will undoubtedly be a boost for Arsenal that PSG will be without one of their main forwards who has been in impressive form so far in this campaign. The 27-year-old former Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona attacker has four goals and four assists in six league games.
Enrique is determined, with a new team emerging following the departure of big names such as Mbappé, to put the squad first even if that means leaving out other so-called star players.
He clashed with Mbappé last season, and dropped him on occasions, before the captain of France left for Real Madrid after his contract expired.
At his press conference on Monday morning, Mikel Arteta was asked for his reaction to the shock decision to drop Dembele. “We just got the news,” Arteta said. “We don’t know if it is true or not, but we prepare like we always do. But they have many other options.”
It later emerged that Dembélé was, indeed, not in PSG’s travelling party when the club posted the squad on social media.