One of football’s most drawn-out sagas appears to be over.
Thursday’s news that Kylian Mbappe has told Paris Saint-Germain he will not stay with the club past the expiration of his current contract this summer has prompted an almighty transfer scramble — both to secure the France striker’s services (although it would be a major surprise if Real Madrid did not win that race) and for PSG to sign a replacement.
But who should the French champions be pursuing… if anyone?
When PSG re-started as a Qatari construct just over a decade ago, they leant on sporting director Leonardo’s knowledge and contacts in Italy to effectively assemble a Serie A all-star squad. Anyone who read those ‘What happened to Big Italian Club X in the last decade?’ pieces will know — PSG cut them a cheque for their best players.
Might the Parisians do so again this summer?
PSG’s football adviser Luis Campos signed AC Milan winger Leao and Napoli striker Osimhen for French club Lille when he was their sporting director back in the day. But going back to Ligue 1 from Serie A would be an odd move at their age (Osimhen turned 25 in December, Leao does the same in June).
Tangentially, Leao’s 2018 move to Lille brought him the stress of a court case over alleged breach of contract with Sporting Lisbon, the club he left. Osimhen’s 2020 sale to Napoli, a part-exchange packaging a quartet of players, three of them no-names now in Italy’s lower leagues, has been subject to investigation by prosecutors in Rome too. None of which is to say things with Campos are awkward, it’s merely an observation that these ins and outs attracted scrutiny and acquired significant baggage.
Leao would be an enticing prospect for PSG (Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
The new contracts Leao and Osimhen signed last year both have buy-out clauses well in excess of €100million (£85.6m; $107.5m). If PSG do intend to bring both back to France, the double operation would be a lite version of summer 2017, when Mbappe and Neymar arrived at the Parc des Princes in the same window.
James Horncastle
PSG’s stated policy regarding their transfer activity, for a year or two now, has been “young and French”. But could I possibly interest them in “young-ish, and English”?
In Mbappe, they are losing a rapid, technically-gifted forward who can play through the middle but ultimately prefers operating on the left. If they are going down the ‘direct replacement’ route, rather than reappraising the structure of their team, they could do a whole lot worse than Manchester United’s Rashford, a player they have previously shown interest in.
It is undoubtedly true that Rashford has been poor for most of this season, but his performances for a lot of the previous one displayed just how good he could be. In fact, his form this season might make him cheaper for PSG, and from United’s perspective/their willingness to sell, we also have to factor in the dreary business of the profit and sustainability rules: as a graduate of United’s academy, he represents a fat chunk of profit that could go some way to easing their concerns in that area.
Rashford has some well-documented issues off the pitch that have the potential to be helped by a move to somewhere he won’t carry the burden of being the homegrown superstar.
Nick Miller
GO DEEPER
Kylian Mbappe: The incredible, inevitable rise of a superstar
Leny Yoro
The party is over; no more forwards. Goncalo Ramos is 22 (23 in June). And while Randal Kolo Muani is mid-career at 25, his potential really hasn’t been properly explored.
Shiny goalscorers are fun, but if the plan is to become the destination club for the top young players in France, PSG would be better served signing one who operates at the other end of the pitch and creating another case study around a developing career.
Having only turned 18 in November, Lille centre-back Yoro still has much to learn. He is exuberant and technical, and so still makes mistakes. But so did a teenage Rio Ferdinand, with whom Yoro bears comparison, and that worked out well enough.
Yoro is from Paris, too. He was born in Saint-Maurice, in the south-east of the city, and given how much Lille are likely to ask for their brightest hope, PSG are the only club who would allow him to keep developing in his own country and in a familiar league. With a rich collection of veteran centre-backs already in the squad, he could adapt to big-club life at his own pace.
It certainly wouldn’t hurt to have another appreciating asset on the books, either.
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor
Look, I don’t think PSG need another winger either. But let’s say Luis Enrique decides he simply cannot survive without one more — who, then, comes closest to replicating Mbappe tactically?
One option is to attempt a bold move for Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior — if Mbappe ends up at the Bernabeu, as expected, the pair are not a natural fit to play together, and PSG are one of the only clubs with the profile and funds to be able to afford Vinicius Jr.
But another young Brazil international may be an even better option — Arsenal’s Martinelli. Few players can mimic Mbappe stylistically, but Martinelli’s ability to cut inside from the left, while moonlighting as a central striker, gives him the versatility to excel in Luis Enrique’s system. His ability to showboat, as well, will fit in well commercially — a feature he shares with Brazilian PSG old boys Neymar and Ronaldinho.
The drawback? Cost. Martinelli signed a new contract until summer 2027 last month, meaning PSG would likely have to part with north of £100million ($125.6m) to sign him. At just 22 years old though, three years younger than Mbappe, if PSG want to invest in a long-term replacement who is proven at the top level, he is an enticing option.
Jacob Whitehead
GO DEEPER
Kylian Mbappe: The incredible, inevitable rise of a superstar
PSG do not need to sign another blue-chip attacking talent to replace Mbappe.
They already have Ramos, Kolo Muani and the out-on-loan Hugo Ekitike who can play as the No 9. Bradley Barcola, 21, should be the future of the team on the left. Keep Ousmane Dembele fit and you have the right side sorted. PSG will also get 20-year-old Xavi Simons back from his current loan at Germany’s RB Leipzig in the summer, and he can play in attacking or right midfield.
Moves for superstar forwards would be misguided attempts to flex your muscles and show the world you still “have it”. Let’s be guided here. If PSG are to finally make good on winning the Champions League, they need a well-balanced squad, and to achieve that, they could probably do with an upgrade at centre-back.
Marquinhos and Milan Skriniar are not a Champions League-winning pair. At 32 years of age, Danilo Pereira cannot be asked to play every week. Kim Min-jae would have been ideal, but he swapped Napoli for Bayern Munich last summer.
So why not make a move for De Ligt?
De Ligt would be a smart addition for PSG (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
Bayern Munich’s 24-year-old Dutchman has had a strange career since leaving Ajax for Juventus in summer 2019, but he’s young and talented enough to become one of the best centre-backs in Europe in the right structure.
He’s strong, comfortable on the ball and — when in good form — has a match-reading ability beyond his years.
Carl Anka
GO DEEPER
Matthijs de Ligt exclusive: Bayern’s ‘boss’ on progression, leadership and switching off
Somebody has to be silly here, but let’s face it, PSG are quite a silly club who have made a habit of doing quite silly things.
Signing Salah might sound a silly idea, too, but it makes more sense the more you think about it.
His output at the highest level remains remarkable, despite his relatively advancing years; he barely misses a match (one of the reasons his recent hamstring injury was such a big story is that his body simply never breaks down); he is 16 months from being a free agent, with no talks having started with Liverpool over a new contract; and, frankly, if you’re a club like PSG and you’re losing a celebrity forward, you need another one to replace them. Sponsors’ appetites are unlikely to be sated by signing a promising project player, and global superstars don’t come much bigger than Salah. Think of the social media hits!
Convincing Liverpool to part with him would not be straightforward but if they were ever to entertain an offer, this summer might just be the time. They are without a sporting director to lead any new contract talks, leaving a space that could be exploited, and who knows what vision the manager replacing Jurgen Klopp might have for the team?
Competition may come from Saudi Arabia, but the prospect of piling up more trophies in Paris (a lovely city, too), and having another crack at the Champions League should outweigh the benefits of becoming even more pointlessly rich.
And while, financially, it’s a deal that makes no sense, that has never stopped PSG before.
Andrew Fifield
Replacing your star forward with a defensive midfielder sounds ridiculous, but it’s what Luis Enrique needs to implement his positional play 4-3-3 at PSG — a deep-lying playmaker to run the build-up through. Really, this would be the successor to Marco Verratti, not Mbappe.
Summer signing Manuel Ugarte has been Luis Enrique’s No 4 this season, and while he is fine at Ligue 1 level, the 22-year-old looked out of depth in the Champions League, constantly getting caught out of position and losing duels.
Frenkie de Jong has been linked with a move away from Barcelona (Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty Images)
There’s a reason why Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (Rodri) and Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta (Declan Rice) build their teams around a press-resistant playmaker. Luis Enrique could go for a similar physical profile and pick up Joao Palhinha of Fulham, but he’s a bit too defensive.
If the door is open for De Jong to leave Barcelona, PSG should go for it. The 26-year-old Dutchman’s ability to stay on the ball, turn out of pressure facing his own goal and move his team up the pitch (he’s in the top five per cent among central midfielders for both progressive passes and progressive carries in Europe’s top five leagues) makes him gold dust.
Liam Tharme
Nobody
The drama of potentially replacing Mbappe draws memory of UFC fighter Conor McGregor’s infamous post-fight declaration: “I’d like to take this chance to apologise… to absolutely nobody.”
So, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you who PSG should sign to fill Mbappe’s magic-making boots…
Absolutely nobody.
We know the club are transitioning away from their ‘Galacticos’ era, and a lot of the hard work was already done last summer as they shifted several high-profile names and invested in their forward line with exciting French stars in the shape of Dembele, Barcola and Kolo Muani — not to mention a 22-year-old Portuguese striker in Ramos, who has struggled for game time since.
The money saved from Mbappe’s €200million annual salary should be used to nurture and retain all that domestic talent with favourable contracts in the long term, rather than adding another limousine to an already-congested Parisian pathway to the first team.
Mbappe’s many goals will be a huge loss, but PSG have the attackers in-house already to share the load out across the team.
Who knows? They might even look more of a coherent unit without him.
Mark Carey
(Top photos: Getty Images)
