PSG, what's the plan?

Paris St. Germain became the talk of football in June 2011 when Qatar Sports Investment purchased 70% of the club. Former AC Milan manager Leonardo was installed as Director of Football and was in charge of recruitment with what seemed to be a limitless budget.

The most notable signing was Argentinean playmaker Javier Pastore for 42 million Euros. Pastore was a player supposedly tracked by some of Europe’s more elite clubs but the Palermo man opted to go to Paris.  Other high profile signings were made including French Striker Kevin Gamiero and the midfield strengthen with Jeremy Minez, Blaise Matuidi and Mohamed Sissoko. A total of nine players joined in the summer for a total of 84 million Euros. Far eclipsing all the other clubs in the league and making them one of the biggest spenders in Europe.

Some of these players are not ones that may have considered moves to France and when you look at it the assumption is they are there for the money.

Was it just a case of huge contracts being put in front of them or did Leonardo sell them on the club with a vision and a plan for the future. If so what how did he sell the club to them?

As a club PSG is very young, formed in 1970, and in that time they have 2 league titles to their name as well as a UEFA Cup. So no danger of history calling these players. Paris itself is unique as PSG is the only club in a city or around 12 million people the scope for support is something other Capital clubs could only dream off.

Pastore and Gamiero, the two most expensive signings, are 22 and 24. 2 or 3 good years in France and they could be sold on with their best years ahead. PSG get titles and a transfer fee, the players get Medals, Champions League football and the chance of a move to one of the elite leagues in Europe.

The main lure for these players must be the Champions League. With the squad they have PSG are odds on to be champions and compete at the top level again (they are currently 3 points clear of Montpellier after 20 games). However if they continue to outspend their rivals the lack of competition domestically would make European success near impossible.

The teams you normally associate with Champions league success tend to come from the same countries. England, Spain, Italy. These are normally quite competitive leagues where 2 or 3 teams have similar budgets and can have a good go at being Champions. This means all league games are important and there is a high level of focus, fitness and match sharpness. If PSG’s spending power eliminates the competition domestically some of these elements could be missing when the stronger test of Europe comes along. When Lyon dominated in the early part of the decade their best performance was a Semi Final appearance in 2010.

So could a lack of competition at home be the downfall of PSG?

In 1993 Marseille became the first, and to date only, French club to win the European Cup. It was very close between them and Rangers to win the group to earn the right to face AC Milan in the final. Due to charges of bribery Marseille were unable to defend their title. Rangers however seemed to get a belief that the European Cup was not out with their reach. This led to a club from the Scottish league trying to become a force in Europe, but without any domestic competition to really test them. A situation that PSG could find themselves in.

In summer of 1993, after nearly making the final, Rangers broke the British transfer record to sign striker Duncan Ferguson from Dundee Utd. A further 1.2million was spent on Gordon Durie. Although being crowned league Champions they went out in the 1^st Round of the Champions league. 

The following season the league championship was won again, but the club fell at the qualifying stage in Europe even though Basile Boli, the scorer of Marseilles’ European Cup winning goal (2.7m) and Brian Laudrup, easily one of the best players to play in Scotland (2.5m) were added to the squad.

The following 2 years they made the group stages but were out classed both years. 95 - 96 saw home and away defeats to a great Juventus team. The following year saw them win only 1 game in the group. Players like Paul Gascoinge (4.3m) Oleg Salenko (2.5m) Jorg Albertz (4m) and Seb Rozental (3.5m) arrived during this time and domestic glory was nearly taken for granted. The 96 – 97 win was a 9^th consecutive championship.

During this nine year period the rest of Scottish football had nothing like this spending power. The early part of the run saw Aberdeen run them close. Celtic, the great Old Firm rivals, were in financial peril. Only the arrival of Fergus McCann stopped the club going out of business. 

Season 97 – 98 saw Amoruso (5m) Sergio Porrini (3m) and Marco Negri, a striker who scored for fun till he went for a game of squash, for 3.75m. They were defeated in the second qualifying round of the Champions league 4 -1 by IFK Gothemburg. Celtic won the title under the guidance of Wim Jansen. Preventing 10 in a Row. Celtic also signed a Swedish striker called Larsson.

During the 97 -98 season Walter Smith announced his intention to leave Rangers so 98 -99 started with the appointment of Dick Advocaat. His first season saw the club spend an almost unbelievable 35.95million on players such as Arthur Numan, Anderi Kanchelskis, Colin Hendry and Giovanni Van Bronckhorst. A domestic treble was won. With no Champions league football a Uefa Cup run was ended by Parma.

The following season saw only 2 transfer fees paid out for Michael Mols and Billy Dodds and a second league title won. Again however they failed to get out of a Champions League group.

Season 00 -01 saw Rangers break the SPL transfer record to sign Flo for 12million. Across Glasgow however Martin O’Neill took over at Celtic and they too began to spend big. Celtic were Champions and Rangers finished 3^rd in their Champions league group.

It took until season 05 -06 under Alex Mcleish for Rangers to finally get to the last 16 of the Champions League. Finishing 2^nd behind Inter in the Group. They were eliminated at the next phase by Villarreal.

It took 13 season for the club to finally make another real impact on the European stage and this was a at time when their spending was finally catching up with them and Mcleish’s budget was considerably less than his predecessors.

Although the French League is generally a higher standard than that of the SPL, the ability to outspend rivals and win titles does not make a team for European competition. You could argue Manchester City are doing this in England, but there is also the chance Chelsea or Man Utd could spend 20 or 30 million on a player.

The question as to whether PSG’s new owners would have this kind of patience to continue investing without any European success is one that can’t really be answered now. You would have to assume that domestic glory will be demanded this season by new coach Carlo Ancelotti and given his European pedigree a good Champions league showing next season too.

Do the Qatari owners think they have a club that can win the Champions League or are they building a promotional exercise and money making machine?

Can the French League provide enough competition to prepare the players for a shot at European glory? If PSG want true competition perhaps the best they could hope is for a Saudi Prince to but Marseille.

I shall watch this develop with interest over the next couple of years, but I have a feeling that Paris Saint Germain is not a name we will see on the Champions League trophy in the near future. It just seems if you come from a league where you are dominant it doesn’t matter the quality of your squad European glory is always going to be a step too far.