The PSG, easier to arrive than to leave

Al-Khelaïfi, president of PSG, and Leonardo, sports director, on the 14th at the Parc des Princes.ANDER GILLENEA / AFP

The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Zani, handed over the PSG key to his friend Nasser Al-Khelaïfi when he acquired 70% of the Pariense entity in 2011. A year later, he kept the entire share package. Al-Khelaïfi is his trusted man, impeccable to act as president of Qatar Sports Investments (Qsi), a subsidiary of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, the company that owns PSG and beIN Media Group, a media group founded in 2014, which has with 22 television channels in different countries. "But important decisions are always made by the emir," say sources from PSG's Ciudad Deportiva. "In the signings of Neymar and Messi, the OK was given by the emir as he will also do if the Mbappé thing takes place," they add. The possible departure of the French forward marks a change in the club's policy,always a star buyer, never a franchise player seller.

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In Paris they justify the possible goodbye of Mbappé in three different aspects. The first, the least important for them: the economic one. The French striker ends his contract next year and in the face of his refusal to renew, the club agrees to negotiate, something unprecedented for Al-Khelaïfi's PSG. "If Mbappé wants to leave, he will leave, but with our conditions," said the sporting director, Leonardo. The second point that stands out is the ability of Real Madrid to lead the negotiations. "Unlike what happened on other occasions with Barcelona, ​​Madrid acted intelligently with the emir," explain the same sources. The third factor is explained through the wardrobe. "Kylian has an ego like the Eiffel Tower", they say in the dressing room in Paris. When Neymar signed for Barça, Johan Cruyff warned:"Two roosters cannot function in a locker room." The relationship between Neymar and Messi worked. But PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino doesn't want to have a third bantamweight.

It would never be understood that PSG would open the door to Mbappé, 22, without the arrival of Messi, 34, after his traumatic goodbye to Barcelona. Nobody was surprised that the Parisian box reached out to the Argentine. That is their modus operandi. In 2011, when Qatar arrived at the club in the French capital, 107 million euros were invested in signing, with Pastore, then a star project, as the banner. The following year, Ibrahimovic, Lucas Moura, Lavezzi, Thiago Silva and Verratti, among others, for 151 million. And so Cavani, Marquinhos, David Luiz, Di María, Draxler, Neymar, Mbappé, Paredes and Icardi, among others, arrived for a total of 1,391 million euros.

In the same period, PSG transferred players for 452 million. It is definitely a buyer's club. Every time he sold a player it was because they did not enter his magnanimous plans. That's how Pastore, Lucas Moura, David Luiz, Guedes and Gameiro left. If PSG wanted a footballer on their squad, there was no way to get him out. Ask Barcelona. The Barça entity knocked on the door of Paris without success in 2013 with Thiago Silva, in 2014 with Marquinhos, in 2017 with Verratti and in 2019 with Neymar. He was never able to fish in Paris. Instead, PSG robbed Neymar (he paid the buyout clause for 222 million in 2017) and got free with Messi, the best footballer in his history, this summer. It is easy to get there, but difficult to leave Paris.

Rabiot passed that of Cain to escape from Paris.

He spent more than half a year in the stands before becoming free to join Juventus in 2019. Five years earlier, Kingsley Coman, the youngest player to make his debut in PSG's first team (16 years, eight months and four days) , used the same strategy to also reach Vecchia Signora as a free agent.

The following year he moved to Bayern Munich.

They were the only footballers who emigrated against the will of the Paris club.

Now it seems that the most paradoxical exit comes to him: Mbappé, world champion with France, aspiring to remain with the throne of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.

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