Paris Saint-Germain was expected to be busy in the transfer market this summer with a replacement for Kylian Mbappe after joining Real Madrid, but the French giants were outdone by the likes of Premier League duo Aston Villa and Brighton and Hove Albion . Luis Enrique led Les Parisiens to success in Ligue 1, Coupe de France and Trophee des Champions last year and the Spanish tactician also oversaw a UEFA Champions League semi-final while navigating a painful split with their former star man.
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The 54-year-old insisted at the height of the sparring between Mbappe and PSG that he was building a future version of his side without the ex-AS Monaco man, but this summer was real proof of that without any sign of an attempt to directly replace their former number 7. Instead, Paris made targeted signings in goal, defence, midfield and attack with Matvey Safonov, Willian Pacho, Joao Neves and Desire Doue to increase the quality of the squad, but also to add flexibility in terms of positional variation – particularly in terms of Doue’s playing ability. like a real number 10.
“We have had a very good period,” Luis Enrique recently said of this summer’s activities, which have also seen the departure of a number of non-essential players, including Manuel Ugarte, Danilo Pereira, Carlos Soler, Nordi Mukiele and Joane Gadou. “We have improved with one player per line. We knew it would be a difficult period, as for all teams. We already have a very good team because we became stronger last year and now we want to continue with this project.”
PSG has built a reputation in its years of ownership of Qatar for completing several transfer market moves, including the world record arrival of Neymar from Barcelona and the signing of Mbappe from Monaco, but the message of the past two years was that this is no longer the club’s approach. Les Parisiens have stuck to their new philosophy of a young, hungry and largely French squad as part of a move towards a new era of financial sustainability with a reduced wage bill within the boundaries of financial fair play, of which Luis Enrique has been a key part . after just 12 months.
“Since I joined PSG, even when the market was open, I have had an influence,” said the former Spain, Barca and AS Roma boss. “Not a single player I don’t like has signed for the club. Since my arrival, I have been fortunate to have a good relationship with Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Luis Campos. I hope we will experience a lot together. I was part of a perfect project and I adapted well to it.”
Part of that new dawn has also been a push towards a team with a lower average age than most of its competitors, both domestically and on the continent, with Paris being the youngest team to reach the quarter-finals of last year’s UCL exceeds with an average age of just 22 years this season. The average age of Safonov, Pacho, Neves and Doue alone puts them just under 22 in what is already a very youthful Ligue 1 competition, but it also hints at the medium to long-term nature of what PSG tries to be about progress.
“I think it has been a very interesting start to the season. I didn’t expect to start at this level,” said Luis Enrique about a 100% winning start to the new season. “The potential is there and the players are keen to improve their performances. As a team, having an idea of what we want to do offensively and defensively has not frustrated the players in their individual performances, on the contrary. I think this season we will have a lot players who go beyond their usual statistics and that will benefit the team.”
However, there were still calls for PSG to make a move for the likes of Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho, as large sums of money were expected from the club over the years, but also because of the finances freed up by the departure of Mbappe. However, Luis Enrique refused to have another superstar thrust upon him and resisted the temptation to ask for more recruits. Instead, he has freed Bradley Barcola into a regular starting role on the left and breathed new life into Randal Kolo Muani in the absence of the injured Goncalo Ramos.
“We don’t want players to come here just to please us,” he said. “It should be the opposite. We want players who are hungry, who want to come to a club as unique as PSG, to a unique city and to a unique country and who want to write their names in the club’s history books. The next step is to continue on this path and improve the team. What I see and feel from the players is ambition; I think we will have a very good season.”
The early signs are positive: nine points from a possible nine to put the new team of bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille under Roberto De Zerbi two points ahead after victories over Havre AC, Montpellier HSC and Lille OSC. With occasional peripheral figures such as Marco Asensio and Kang-In Lee now also regularly involved, the PSG squad makes the most sense they have done so in a long time and that could be reflected in Europe, despite a difficult first draw in the UCL League stage.
In the opening match, PSG will face Girona (home), Arsenal (away), PSV (home), Atletico Madrid (home), Bayern Munich (away), Red Bull Salzburg (away), Manchester City (home) and Stuttgart ( out). League stage of the Champions League. You can watch all the matches of the French giants and much more Biggest+ from matchday 1 on September 18.