MANCHESTER – Lionel Messis upcoming exit Paris Saint-Germain could mark the beginning of the end of the French football club’s era of excess.
The departure of the Argentinian great after this season has the potential to become as significant as the spate of superstar signings as Qatari money has made PSG one of the richest clubs in the world.
Barring a sudden change of heart on both sides, Messi is set to leave when his current contract expires in a couple of weeks.
While this paves the way for the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner to earn $400m a year in Saudi Arabia, it also gives PSG an opportunity to turn away from a strategy that hasn’t quite worked out and embrace it instead contact local talent development.
Owned by Qatar Sports Investments since 2011, PSG has dominated French football signing some of the sport’s biggest names including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Messi. But the team has yet to win the biggest prize in European club football, the Champions League.
If anything, PSG are moving further away from the trophy they crave most, having been knocked out in the last two straight seasons. Despite a squad brimming with world-class talent, the club have entered this phase of the competition in five of the last seven seasons, reaching the final just once in their history, in 2020.
Even the dream team of Messi, Mbappe and Neymar couldn’t change that.
While Messi’s departure makes things clear now, the strategy shift towards young talent seems to have started last year. A state-of-the-art training center in Poissy is nearing completion and will provide a base to develop the best young players that France produces.
But at the heart of this new vision is arguably the greatest talent of all: Kylian Mbappe. This raises questions about Neymar’s future as the Brazilian doesn’t seem to fit the club’s model.
It could also explain the split with Messi.
As the youngest world champion’s time at PSG ends on a sour note – he was fined and suspended for an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia – his move from Barcelona is still considered a success.
In his first season at the French club, Messi is estimated to have brought PSG around $11 million in profits through commercial partnerships.
PSG President Nasser Al Khelaifi is proud that he also managed to rally a number of football’s biggest stars in one attack, albeit for a short time. Now there’s a shift away from ‘bling’ towards more homegrown talent.
After all, France has produced some of the best footballers in history, most recently Mbappe, and PSG look to capitalize on that.
France won the 2018 World Cup, losing only on penalties to a Messi-led Argentina in last year’s final. Mbappe was the only PSG player in the French team to start in Qatar in this final.
France’s brightest young stars have instead gone to European clubs like Real Madrid (Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga), Barcelona (Ousmane Dembele, Jules Kounde) and Bayern Munich (Kingsley Coman, Dayot Upamecano).
Coman, who came through at PSG, scored as Bayern edged his former team out of the Champions League this season.
Leipzig striker Christopher Nkunku, who is expected to move to Chelsea in the offseason, was also with PSG. So did another France international, Bayer Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby.
Mbappe, who has been a long-term target for Real Madrid, seems ok with PSG’s plans having signed a three-year deal with the club last May. He’s certainly “bling” football-wise, but he also fits in perfectly with the new strategy of the local youth team.
There were steps in that direction this season as 17-year-old players Warren Zaire-Emery and El Chadaille Bitshiabu broke into the first-team and featured in the defeat to Bayern.
The hiring of a French manager in Christophe Galtier last year was another example of the postponement, although it’s unclear if he will stay beyond this season as results fall in the second half of the season.
PSG still lead the French league by five points over second-placed Marseille and are on their way to a ninth title in the era of Qatari ownership. But it’s the club’s Champions League blunders that were unacceptable given the huge sums spent on Neymar ($219m) and Mbappe ($190m).
This underperformance at the highest level has led to a general feeling that PSG is a collection of individuals rather than a cohesive team. And the focus of collective moving forward indicates an acknowledgment of that.
For comparison: Manchester City, which is backed by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, has put together what is probably the best team in Europe under Pep Guardiola, even if the Champions League is yet to come.
That could change this season as City are in the semifinals for the third straight year.
Messi’s departure from PSG and perhaps Neymar as well could bring the French club one step closer to their quest to finally win the European Cup.
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