Parisian Tears

There is a saying that "Paris is the most beautiful city in the world. It brings tears to your eyes." However, PSG fans are currently the ones with tears in their eyes after another humiliating early European exit. Their star-studded team consists of two world record signings in Neymar for €222 million and Kylian Mbappé in 2018 in a transfer worth €180 million. They also have current Ballon d'Or winner Leo Messi completing their enviable forward line, and yet this season's failure in the Champions League will make their board wonder what more needs to be done to bring home the European championship.

PSG currently have a consistent seat at Europe's elite table, but this wasn't always the case as the club was founded only in 1970 with the help of Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu, who guided the initial founders to start a crowdfunding campaign. With 20,000 people backing the project, Paris Saint-Germain was formed on 17 June 1970. Their first notable player was Jean Djorkaeff, the father of famous French player Youri Djorkaeff, who was part of the French World Cup team in 1998 and would later play for them.

The club gained promotion in their first season, and this began their steep incline to becoming a more established team in France. They won their first Ligue 1 title in 1986 and were taken over in 1991 by French television channel Canal+, who proceeded to purchase big-name players such as David Ginola, George Weah, and Youri Djorkaeff. During this period, they won Ligue 1, three French Cups, two League Cups, and the 1996 Cup Winners Cup. However, they started to experience financial crises and bravely fought off relegation.

Their fortunes and the landscape of French football changed forever when they were purchased in 2011 by Qatar Sports Investments. They proceeded to purchase some of the biggest names in Europe, such as Thiago Silva, Zlatan, Di Maria, as well as David Beckham on loan. Despite dominating French football since 2011, European success has eluded them constantly. They famously lost to Barcelona in 2017 when Barcelona made Champions League history by becoming the first team to overturn a first-leg 4-0 deficit. This prompted the board to think differently and sanction a record-breaking deal for Neymar, who was the architect of their downfall in this game. They believed that they had managed to finally break their Champions League hoodoo when in 2020 Thomas Tuchel guided them to the final against Bayern Munich. Despite performing well in the game, they lost 1-0 to a goal scored by an ex-PSG graduate, Kingsley Coman.

This final signaled to the world their biggest issue as a club. For all their expensive purchases, they lacked the heart that comes from bleeding youth players through. They have constantly replaced managers without ever finding a real identity other than having big-name players with little loyalty to their badge. PSG has spent over £1bn since the Qatari takeover in 2012 and has won eight of the 10 Ligue 1 titles and 12 domestic cups under the new ownership, yet European success eludes them.

This defeat to Bayern really poses a crossroads for PSG. Do they continue scooping up elite European players and sacking managers every other year with no coherent plan, or do they instead go down a different approach? They genuinely thought signing Leo Messi would help the French team finally win their first Champions League. However, in his two seasons there, they have gone out in the round of 16. Five of Bayern's past six goals against PSG in the Champions League have been scored by players who previously played for them, three for Choupo-Moting, two for Coman. Which shows that they dispatch players too soon and also that the players leave with a big point to prove. The same can be said of their managers as two of their previous five managers have gone on to win the Champions league since leaving Paris. A better option would be to use the model Chelsea used on route to their most recent champions league success, bleeding through youth players who know what it means to play for the club with a few additional purchases. This same model was used by Manchester United on route to their first title and I genuinely believe this is where PSG really suffer, they purchase players who have zero connection to the club and the city and then dispatch them when they don’t perform. Their success in France is all but guaranteed every year due to the financial power they have over their competition however without competitive games week in week out complacency seeps in and so they really need to find their heart and identity otherwise European success will continue to elude them.