Are PSG planning a French-rooted project led by Kylian Mbappe?
You know how things work in Paris by now. PSG reach the finish of another disappointing season, start planning for next year, end up spending a lot of money on multiple flashy superstars, realize the results are worse than expected, and starts all over again.
That cycle, however, could be about to change.
After another mediocre (at best) season, PSG are only fighting for another (a record 11th, it must be said) Ligue 1 title since crashing out of the Coupe de France in February and the Champions League in March earlier this year.
With no European success since the arrival of the Qatar-backed board and QSI in the capital, things have always been the same until the arrival of sporting advisor/director Luis Campos last summer and the mentality change of president Nasser Al-Khelaifi: no more "bling-bling" and more French things.
That is why reports emerged yesterday (as they already did a few weeks ago) about PSG turning the page and having a new plan and clear idea in mind for the short-term future of the club: get rid of the MNM and rebuild around Kylian Mbappe and a strong, French-bred contingent.
The arrival of Luis Campos and Christophe Galtier was expected to yield better results than just another Ligue 1 title. That's not even confirmed yet, mind you, with PSG looking at a home-stretch sprint in which they just can't afford to lose more points if they don't want to finish the season without adding a single trophy to their cabinets.
Le Parisien published a note on Tuesday in which they informed us about the whereabouts of the PSG honcho after we've not heard from him in a few days.
Looking at the developments taking place in Paris from Qatar (because of Ramadan), the president of PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, has "taken a step back" from the ongoings of the club although he "has not stopped thinking about the past, present, and future" of PSG.
The media outlet reported that the president wants to "analyze errors to avoid repeating them," adding that he has acknowledged "the club is in ruins and the priority is to rebuild it for the next season.“
PSG to break the Messi-Neymar-Mbappe trio, build a French foundation?
The latest elimination from the Champions League has brought a new path of action to the mind of Al-Khelaifi: to end the Messi-Neymar-Mbappe attack and start anew.
It is obvious that the MNM is not working as expected, mostly because it breaks the cohesion of the team on the pitch splitting it into two very separate halves because of the lack of defensive efforts and pressure from the triumvirate up front.
The reports, however, are conflicting even coming from the same media outlets. It is believed that PSG's board is willing to extend Lionel Messi's deal with the club... but at the same time now we are hearing that the president wants to break the MNM. What gives?
According to Le Parisien, the owners of PSG “saw recruiting the Argentine as an opportunity impossible to refuse,“ although they are not quite happy with the return they've gotten from Messi through his two years in Paris.
That, in turn, has led Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Luis Campos to start working on a new direction: "to put an end to the 'bling-bling' era of PSG."
Le Parisien reported on Tuesday that Paris Saint-Germain would prefer to pursue "the departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr." to "start a new chapter in which Kylian Mbappe will be the only one at the heart of the project."
The future PSG? Full of young, French-bred, physically and mentally strong players
The PSG board noticed "a lack of involvement from some players" in the past (Le Parisien mentions Leandro Paredes, Angel Di Maria, and Mauro Icardi), and that led them to sell/loan those players away and to think about "giving priority to French players," which Le Parisien labels the "Plan A" of PSG.
During the World Cup in Qatar, people were surprised to see only one PSG player selected for the France team, which fostered this change of mentality according to Le Parisien. In addition to being on the lookout for French players, Parisian decision-makers have "a desire to strengthen the workforce athletically".
The new strategy plotted by Luis Campos can be summarized as one focused on "young French players, physically and mentally strong."
There is no conviction in the PSG offices about whether or not this plan will bring sporting success, but according to Le Parisien this new strategy is aimed more are refreshing the face of the club and the brand more than anything else after failing to achieve success yearly even boasting the most expensive players world-football has to offer.