Mercato – Will Paris Saint-Germain finally recruit in Ligue 1?

Mbappé, the only Ligue 1 recruit in seven years

But still, the French championship has not in recent history the favors of the Parisian club. As proof, the last recruit made by PSG from Ligue 1 is none other than Kylian Mbappé… attracted in the summer of 2017! Since then, nothing. Or rather, a series of negligences on the most interesting prospects in Ligue 1, all gone abroad (Fabinho, F. Mendy, Koundé, Leao…). Sometimes even starting from the Parisian club itself (Nkunku, Diaby)!

Recently, the failures of Camavinga and Tchouaméni confirm another problem: even when PSG are interested in the talents of Ligue 1, it encounters the desire of young people to go abroad, the ferocity of French clubs financially who logically want to take advantage of the power of Paris to drive up prices, and fierce competition from rivals in Europe, who know that a PSG without the talents of the French championship in its ranks is a weakened PSG.

Because they got it right, and they’ve been using it in the transfer market for years. All the big ones in Europe first use their national network to expand their workforce. Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, or Juventus (who remain a big European despite the last two difficult seasons) have a solid foundation in their standard team of players trained at the club or recruited in their respective leagues. . Paris must, and wants to, do the same.

Multiple but complicated tracks

While the mercato has just officially opened its doors, five names from Ligue 1 have already been associated with an arrival at PSG: Hugo Ekitike (Reims), Seko Fofana (Lens), Sven Botman (Lille), Lucas Paqueta and Malo Gusto (Lyon). Recruiting local is one of the apparent priorities of the new Portuguese sporting director Luis Campos, and this also seems to have been a determining factor in the negotiations leading to Kylian Mbappé’s new contract with the French champions. Additional proof of the supposed validity of this “made in France” recruitment.

Having said all that, it remains to be seen who can actually join the Paris ranks. Paqueta will not be coming, he was Leonardo’s top priority, and Ekitike seems to have a deal with Newcastle for a € 46 million transfer. Fofana, Botman and Gusto are less dreamy, but are affordable for PSG and no less interesting on paper than some of the foreign names mentioned by the market rumors. The change of direction at PSG will go through these kinds of recruits, and even if a recruitment in Ligue 1 will inevitably have its share of casting errors, not trying is a clear guarantee of failure.