More French players in Paris? This has been the will of the club for some time. And again this summer, at the start of the transfer window, the champions of France aimed to “Frenchify” the workforce. Although, it was a wish more than an obligation, as we explained in our columns at the end of June, at the very start of the market. Today, PSG must clearly get started. It is no longer an option. While waiting for the departures of some (Icardi, Paredes, Navas, Draxler…), the workforce of Luis Enrique is already significant in number after the arrivals of Milan Skriniar, Marco Asensio, Manuel Ugarte, Lee Kang-in, Lucas Hernandez and Cher Ndour. Substantial, but not suitable for the Champions League. UEFA requires in fact to align eight locally trained players in order to have a list of 25 elements, including at least four trained at the club, that is to say “dismissed at the club for three seasons between 15 and 21 years”. As for the other players, we are talking about footballers “licensed in another club of the same association for three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21”.
However, if Layvin Kurzawa, Colin Dagba, Abdou Diallo and other Timothée Pembélé leave as planned, or even Hugo Ekitike, Paris Saint-Germain will not have the account. Especially since El Chadaille Bitshiabu is announced to be leaving for Leipzig, where he would join the now ex-Lois Openda player. Don’t count on Lucas Hernandez to swell the ranks of homegrown players: the 27-year-old world champion has never played in France, having trained at Atlético Madrid. The Parisians would only have Alexandre Letellier, Lucas Lavallée, Presnel Kimpembe and Nordi Mukiele, without forgetting Kylian Mbappé, a player trained… at PSG, since he arrived at 18 on the banks of the Seine. They would have liked to count on Marcus Thuram, but the latter chose to join Inter.
Thus, as noted by the daily L’Équipe in its edition of the day, PSG must strive to recruit players who tick certain boxes. Except that there are already not many positions left to fill: among the priorities, the “Qatar-SG” must still find a center forward and a right side striker to fill his starting lineup, and a second goalkeeper , not to mention any market opportunities. The daily therefore concludes that “it is no coincidence” that the names of Randal Kolo Muani (Eintracht Frankfurt), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Bradley Barcola (Lyon) and of course Xavi Simons (PSV Eindhoven) are mentioned these last weeks or days. L’Équipe even adds a name to the list: never very far from the club, Antero Henrique would have indeed “taken information on the situation” of Montpellier striker Elye Wahi, without however saying more about this file. We know that the 20-year-old, native of Courcouronnes, has an exit voucher this summer. But President Nicollin obviously won’t let him go at any price…
Obviously, a departure from Mbappé would further strengthen this quest for players trained in France. In any case, the tracks leading to Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Victor Osimhen (Naples), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus) or Yacine Bounou (Sevilla), to name a few, could not not all be fulfilled. It will be necessary to make choices, and perhaps favor a player trained locally to another simply because he made his classes within a club of the championship of France. Moreover, we feel that Paris is firing on all cylinders with, for example, the appearance of the Lloris piste. Even at 36, it is hard to imagine the former captain of the Blues coming to sit at the Parc des Princes. Especially when Keylor Navas is still under contract and is pushed out. Last but not least, it is rumored that Luis Enrique is aiming for a goalkeeper comfortable in the game on foot, not the forte of the former Lyonnais.
What if PSG don’t have the required number of locally trained players when they submit their group stage list to UEFA? “If a club has fewer than eight locally trained players, its number of players on List A is reduced by as many locally trained players as are missing”, specifies the European body. Could the Parisian club leave at 24, or even 23 in C1? In fact, it is not impossible, “but it is obviously not the will of the leaders”, specify without great surprise our colleagues.
In the meantime, and in another register, Luis Enrique does not intend to compromise on one point: “It is very important that all foreign people who come to France and Paris learn the French language”, insists the technician 53-year-old Spaniard on the site of his new club. It would be a real change of course at Paris-SG… The former coach of FC Barcelona may not have to push the next recruits to learn the language of Molière if they are local players… Note that a locally trained player does not need to be French. The former Parisian Idrissa Gueye, Senegalese international, benefited for example from this status because of his years in Lille. Luis Campos knows in any case what to expect for the last recruits of the transfer window of the summer of 2023.
