PSG Early Pre-Season Review, Part 3: Transfers and new players
It's been a little more than a month of off/pre-season at PSG but it's fair to say that we have had all sorts of drama and news coverage for the past few weeks already.
The players of the first-team of PSG have yet to report to the training ground (they'll do so starting on July 10 for non-internationals, and July 17 for the rest of players), but it's not that PSG have not been forced into navigating many storylines.
Here is an early review of everything that has gone on around PSG for the past month after they wrapped up the 2022/23 season by lifting their 11th Ligue 1 title, split into four parts for easier digestion.
PSG Pre-Season Review (3 of 4): Early Transfers and New Players
PSG lost no time in bolstering a squad that will have to do with the losses of uber-talented players such as Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos next season.
The truth is that the Parisian, probably knowing what was coming, started working on clinching new arrivals as soon as last February.
After failing to land even a single player to strengthen their squad for the second half of the season in January, PSG signed their first player for the upcoming campaign in early February when they reached a pre-agreement with former Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar.
Already in June, PSG kept looking for bargains and they found another great one in soon-to-be free agent Marco Asensio, a former Real Madrid winger and Spain international that officially arrived at PSG in early July from the Spanish giants signing on a free.
Another early development that nobody expected was the payment of the release clause present in Manuel Ugarte's contract at Sporting of Portugal. After a battle with Chelsea for the rights of signing the Uruguayan midfielder, PSG completed the transfer and were able to sign the promising youngster, whose deal was announced of late along with the other ones already made official by PSG.
In the latest official transfer news, PSG announced the arrival of the first South Korean player in the history of the organization: former Mallorca forward Kang-In Lee. Lee arrives from Spain after spending time at both Valencia and Mallorca, and he is also expected to boost the PR influence of PSG across the world and more prominently the Asian regions, with the club having just launched their South Korean social accounts to reach further fanbases.
On top of that, PSG have already closed a deal with France international and Bayern defender Lucas Hernandez, who has reportedly undergone his medical tests and signed a contract to play at PSG for the next few seasons already. Pending an official announcement that will arrive during the next few days, Hernandez is the fifth signing of PSG for the upcoming season.
Finally, PSG will soon announce the arrival of another youngster coming from Portugal, Cher Ndour of Benfica, on a free transfer after he became a free agent at the end of June.
Even with all of the positive and encouraging news regarding the arrivals of new players to bolster an already-loaded squad, two questions remain to be solved by the PSG front office.
The first one is related to selling all of the unwanted players that went on loan last season and just returned to Paris, and the second and more worrying: dealing with the potential exit of superstar and face-of-the-team Kylian Mbappe.