Paris Saint-Germain: Will Carlo Ancelotti Bring Alessandro Del Piero to Paris?

Paris Saint-Germain manager Carlo Ancelotti is remaining coy about a possible move this summer to bring 37-year-old Juventus striker Alessandro del Piero, who is out of contract at the end of the season, to the French capital's top club, Italian Sky Sports 24 reported on Thursday.

Said Ancelotti in an interview with the news service, "I don't know. [Del Piero's] contract is almost up. Anything can happen."

The newly-hired PSG boss knows all about the legendary Italian trequartista having managed him at the Turin club from 1999-2001 and is well aware of Del Piero's quality, which has not dimmed at the same rate as the life in his legs.

While the former Italian international has struggled to secure regular playing time at Juventus this season (he's appeared just 13 times for the Biancoeri and mostly as a substitute), a trend which is reflected in his subpar return rate—Del Piero has zero goals and one assist in 2011-12—PSG may yet prove a good fit.

Sporting director Leonardo, brought in before the 2011-12 season, is looking for a high-profile recruit worthy of the glitz and glam of the city, especially after missing out on David Beckham this winter.

After months of will-he, won't-he, Beckham eventually decided to remain with MLS club LA Galaxy, signing a two-year contract this week.

Del Piero isn't the same player who once dizzied defenses with his transcendent skill and wily play, but he is a headliner. And, after showing former manager Antoine Kombouare the door in order to bring in the more renowned Ancelotti, Leonardo has made no bones about his desire to increase PSG's profile.

And when every top striker currently plying his trade in Europe has been linked to Paris in recent weeks (and if you were the agent of an Edinson Cavani or Fernando Llorente, why wouldn't you send out a feeler to PSG, whose significant oil-money just begs for an inflated transfer tag), you start to understand the system.

Leonardo wants to revitalize a striking core that has struggled this season and lend some international credibility along the way. 

Ancelotti has lamented the dearth of world-class options at the forward position at PSG and this past weekend sent out a starting 11 without Kevin Gameiro or Guillaume Hoarau—two of the strikers on the books.

Gameiro, Hoarau and Melvut Erding (who looks set to join Rennes during this transfer window), while talented, are not in the class of a Del Piero, whose name sparks instant recognition amongst most who follow football.

Despite Gameiro's nine league goals this season in 20 matches (after a fast start, he has only scored once since mid-October), which has seen the striker earn a place in the French national team, he doesn't look to have won over Ancelotti. At least not yet.

The highly-decorated former AC Milan and Chelsea coach has been quick to express his enthusiasm for the PSG project. And if he's going to do this, he'll do it his way—which means high-profile players worthy of his ambition.

At just 52 years of age, there's plenty of time for Ancelotti to make an impact in Ligue 1, which he says is more varied in terms of tactics than its English equivalent. How long he decides to remain in Paris remains an object of conjecture, but he does look genuinely determined to bring PSG back to their heyday of the mid-1990s.

While Ancelotti is in Paris, he'll do his best to win and win often, just as he's done everywhere on his managerial resume.

The question becomes, which players will he win with?