"It had been a long time since we had been able to work together for a week", smiles Thomas Tuchel.
Indeed, after the "Final 8" of the Champions League on the Lisbon side (12-23 August) and a few well-deserved days of rest (but which had caused much ink to flow), PSG had to chain four matches in ten days (Lens, OM, Metz, Nice).
All with an ever smaller workforce, between injuries and Covid-19.
This time, the vice-champions of Europe will have benefited from a full week of work between their success in Nice (0-3) and this match in Reims, this Sunday (9 p.m., 5th day).
And the group is almost complete.
Neymar, Leo Paredes and Abdou Diallo return from suspension.
Only Thilo Kehrer, Juan Bernat (injured) and Layvin Kurzawa (suspended) are missing in Champagne.
Touched at the Allianz Riviera last week, Idrissa Gueye is uncertain.
“We worked with a smile, but in a good state of mind and with a lot of quality,” promises Tuchel, delighted to be able to field the Neymar / Mbappé tandem for the first time this season in Reims.
"It changes everything !
It's more difficult for the opponent to defend, it's easier for us to attack and to open spaces.
We have already shown that we can find solutions without them but they are there to make a difference and they are good together, ”assures the German coach.
Di Maria suspended, Neymar waiting
Angel Di Maria will also be in the game, before serving four suspension matches after his spitting towards Alvaro Gonzalez during the recent Classic against OM (0-1).
"I have to accept but I can not understand," Tuchel squeaks, indignant at the total suspension matches inflicted on PSG (14, against 4).
"We really have the impression that we were the only ones responsible for this situation", he plague.
These figures could still change next Wednesday since the Disciplinary Commission must decide in the Neymar / Alvaro case, with the two players suspected of racist insults ...
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In the meantime, PSG is on another front by October 5: the transfer window.
And so far, things are slowing down on the Factory side.
Edinson Cavani, Tanguy Kouassi (Bayern) and Thomas Meunier (Dortmund), at the end of their contract, all left before the "Final 8".
Thiago Silva (Chelsea) and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting followed suit after the Portuguese campaign.
So far, Layvin Kurzawa has extended, Mauro Icardi and Sergio Rico have been transferred permanently and Alessandro Florenzi has arrived on loan from Roma.
In anticipation of the departures of Marcin Bulka and Garissone Innocent, Alexandre Letellier returned to the fold.
A paris transfer window for Paris
But the account is not there.
And the outlook is not very encouraging.
The coronavirus and the stop of Ligue 1 have been there and Leonardo does not seem to have an XXL envelope.
In fact, he even has to sell for tens of millions of euros in order to balance the books, while replacing the starters.
These last weeks, it is thus only question of ready in the direction of the arrivals, and of player in failure, often injured or unrecognized according to the cases (El Shaarawy, Kehdira, Bakayoko, Soumaré, Meïté, Rudiger…).
Of course, the base is already there, with Keylor Navas, Marquinhos, Marco Verratti or even Kylian Mbappé and Neymar.
But the PSG Qatari sauce has not accustomed its supporters to multiply the bets and blows without guarantee during the transfer window.
“The club knows my opinion, my analysis after last season.
He knows the analysis of the situation well, slips Thomas Tuchel.
Now I am waiting.
We wait together.
The transfer window is not over.
The situation is not easy between the coronavirus and players who have left.
We still have time, it's not over, we're waiting. "
In the meantime, aligning a third consecutive victory in Reims, a team in difficulty in Ligue 1 (0 victory, 1 draw, 3 defeats), weakened this summer and undoubtedly blunt after its mini European campaign (elimination in Hungary this week), would give a little more serenity in Paris.
Verratti aims for Pilorget's record
With a 319th match in Red and Blue this Sunday (9 p.m.), in Reims, Marco Verratti would become the fifth most capped player in the history of PSG, ahead of Bernard Lama (318).
A little more in the story… "He is an incredible player, a guy that we can only love, congratulates Thomas Tuchel.
He is there every day, with the same state of mind, he is always there with a smile and he always gives everything on the pitch.
He is a leader with his "sprit", his mentality and his quality.
It's an incredible mix.
I am very happy that he is there, to be able to be his coach. ”
Verratti, altruism personified.
Tuchel illustrates it in these terms: “If he is on the (goal) line, he finds someone nearby, he gives the ball to score.
That's all him. ”
And to add: "I treat him like a leader, a captain, but he doesn't need to show that with the armband."
Debauched in Pescara in 2012, Verratti, he feels good in Paris.
“This club, I love it,” he promises on the PSG website, aiming to become “the player with the club caped, it would be magnificent”.
This will require overtaking Safet Sucic, Paul Le Guen (344 matches), Sylvain Armand (380) and finally record holder Jean-Marc Pilorget (435).
By the end of his contract, in 2024, it is very possible.
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