With Lionel Messi's probable departure from Paris Saint-Germain, the French club's excess-filled period may be coming to an end.
The legendary Argentine's departure at the end of the current campaign could be just as momentous as the slew of superstar additions made since Qatari money made PSG one of the richest teams in the world.
If neither party has a sudden change of heart before the end of his current contract in a few weeks, Messi is expected to go.
While that sets the path for the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner to reportedly earn $400 million a year in Saudi Arabia, it also provides PSG the option to change course from a plan that hasn't exactly worked out in favor of fostering homegrown talent.
The team has dominated French football and signed some of the biggest names in the game, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, and Messi, but PSG has yet to win European club football's biggest prize, the Champions League. If anything, PSG is slipping further away from the trophy it craves the most after back-to-back eliminations in the round of 16.Despite a roster stacked with world-class players, including Neymar, Messi, and Ne
Messi's departure makes things appear clearer now, but the shift in strategy to focus on young talent seems to have started last year. A state-of-the-art training center in Poissy is close to completion and will provide a base to nurture the best young players France produces. At the center of this new vision, however, is arguably the biggest talent of them all: Kylian Mbappe.
Messi's time at PSG is coming to an end after he was fined and suspended for an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia, but his move from Barcelona is still viewed as a success. In his first season at the French club, Messi is estimated to have brought in about $11 million in revenue from commercial partnerships. As a point of pride, PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi also managed to assemble an ar
PSG hopes to capitalize on the fact that France has historically produced some of the greatest athletes, with Kylian Mbappe being the most recent.
France won the World Cup in 2018 and fell to Messi-led Argentina in the championship match the year before on penalties. The only member of PSG to start for France in that final in Qatar was Mbappe.
Instead of playing for American teams, France's top young athletes have moved to European teams like Real Madrid (Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga), Barcelona (Ousmane Dembele, Jules Kounde), and Bayern Munich (Kingsley Coman, Dayot Upamecano).
Coman, who developed at PSG, scored when Bayern eliminated his former team from the Champions League this season. Leipzig forward Christopher Nkunku, another France international, Bayer Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby, were also at PSG. Mbappe, who has been a long-term target for Real Madrid, appears to be on board with PSG's plans because he signed a three-year contract with the club last May.
With 17-year-old players Warren Zaire-Emery and El Chadaille Bitshiabu getting into the first squad and participating in the loss to Bayern, there have been steps in that direction this season.
Another illustration of the transition was the hire of Christophe Galtier as a French coach last year, though it's not obvious if he'll be around after this year given the decline in performance.
PSG is still five points ahead of second-place Marseille in the French league and is on track to win its seventh championship under Qatari ownership. But the club's Champions League struggles, which have been unsatisfactory given the significant sums spent on Neymar ($219 million) and Mbappe ($190 million), have been the cause.
The perception that PSG is a group of individuals rather than a cohesive squad has been fueled in part by this underperformance at the highest level. And the collective's future priorities suggest an acceptance of that.
In contrast, Manchester City, which is supported by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, has assembled what is arguably the strongest team in Europe under Pep Guardiola, even though the Champions League is still out of reach for them.
Due to City's third consecutive appearance in the playoffs, that may alter this year.
Neymar's and possibly Messi's departure from PSG could bring the French club one step closer to its goal of winning the cup in the end.
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