5 Issues PSG Must Address to Make Champions League Semi-Finals Next Season
Following Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat to Barcelona at Camp Nou, Paris Saint-Germain are out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage for the third consecutive season.
The French capital outfit’s ambitions of a semi-final finish or better will have to wait until next year, and the 5-1 aggregate loss to the Catalans will not sit well with PSG players, staff or hierarchy.
It was unfortunate that so many players were injured or suspended over both legs, but Les Parisiens’ failure to trouble Barca without some of their key players illustrated that this squad is not ready to go further than the last eight of the Champions League.
Laurent Blanc’s men still have plenty to play for between now and the end of the season, and a domestic treble—Ligue 1, Coupe de la Ligue and Coupe de France—is still possible. If the defending French champions can pull that off, they will be the first team in history to achieve such a feat.
Once they have taken on AJ Auxerre at Stade de France on Saturday May 30, PSG’s season will be over and the club can embark upon what promises to be a busy summer.
Here are five issues that must be addressed before next season if PSG are to make it to next campaign’s semi-finals.
A New Sporting Director Needed
1 of 5
For over a year now, PSG have been crying out for a new sporting director. Since Leonardo left the role back in July of 2013, nobody has been appointed to fill the role on a full-time basis, and Olivier Letang and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi have taken over transfer duties.
Last summer, PSG badly missed Leonardo’s tremendous negotiating skills when they sat down at the table with Chelsea to thrash out a move for David Luiz. That signing of the Brazilian, although he has not been a failure on the pitch, was costly for the capital club because of the UEFA financial fair play sanctions that came into effect last year.
When those measures were handed down to Les Parisiens, they needed to work out intelligent ways to navigate the transfer market and obtain the multiple targets they needed to improve the squad while acting within FFP’s limitations.
What actually happened was PSG signing Luiz and then spending the summer trying to snare main target Angel Di Maria, only for the Argentinian to eventually join Manchester United instead.
Serge Aurier was obtained on a loan with an obligation to buy, which owed more to Toulouse’s business preferences than PSG’s negotiating acumen.
Last summer, a squad overhaul was not truly needed, although a number of positions did need reinforcing. Those reinforcements did not arrive, and now the defending French champions find themselves needing to make sweeping changes to the squad if they want to progress in Europe.
At present, there is no member of the PSG hierarchy capable of being the architect for the personnel changes that need to be made.
Greater Squad Depth Required
2 of 5
If PSG want to go further than the Champions League quarter-finals next season, the club will have to accept that injuries and suspensions are a part of professional football and that they need a stronger squad in order to really compete on four separate fronts.
When fully fit, Les Parisiens’ starting XI is arguably one of the strongest in Europe and would have been good enough to push Barcelona closer than the actual 5-1 aggregate defeat they suffered this season.
That loss over two legs owed more to a lack of strength in depth than anything else.
Too many of PSG’s peripheral figures, such as Yohan Cabaye, Lucas Digne and Zoumana Camara are either not up to the task of stepping into the starting XI for the biggest games or are too old to really be of any use.
Digne has struggled to impress when given the chance this season, but in his defence, he has not been trusted with the big occasions, like the games against Barcelona, and has found himself behind an evergreen Maxwell in the starting XI.
However, Cabaye has been simply awful since joining in January of 2014, and Camara ceased to exist as a viable fourth-choice central defender some time ago.
It is time for PSG to cut their losses with both Cabaye and Camara, while they also need to make a decision on the likes of Digne, who either needs more first-team football or to be given a chance to go elsewhere on loan to mature as a player.
There are then a number of first-team regulars who also need to be shown the door.
Ezequiel Lavezzi, Edinson Cavani, Gregory van der Wiel and Thiago Motta have simply not been good enough this season, and question marks have started to appear above Salvatore Sirigu and Maxwell’s names as well.
Motta’s experience remains invaluable to PSG, but his physical decline since last season has been staggering.
Lavezzi should have been sold on to fund a move for a more efficient wide player last summer, while Van der Wiel’s average standard of performance has come nowhere close to touching last campaign’s.
Cavani remains a potential asset, but he has endured a torrid season, and there is no guarantee that he wants to stay in Paris for another term.
However, such has been the low quality of his performances, few suitors are likely to pay the money that PSG would be after in order to consider a sale, and his Champions League scoring figures may well be his saving grace.
Sirigu and Maxwell perhaps do not deserve to be cast out just yet, but they are potential areas of concern for the short- to medium-term future.
A new sporting director would be able to conduct a ruthless overhaul of the squad and root out the underperforming deadwood that is starting to collect at Parc des Princes.
Fitness
3 of 5
One problem that PSG were facing from the very first day of the season was the fitness levels of the squad.
Fatigue has played a huge role this season, with many of Les Parisiens’ stars having followed up a gruelling last season with a demanding FIFA World Cup campaign in Brazil.
It is impressive, in many ways, that PSG were able to sustain their fight for glory on four fronts for so long considering the players worst affected by the World Cup. Blaise Matuidi, Thiago Silva and David Luiz all went on deep runs to the latter stages of the tournament and therefore only got a token amount of rest before starting this season.
The result was a string of muscle-related injuries and some below-par performances.
Defence, in particular, is a position that PSG have struggled in this season, and it is no surprise when you consider that Silva, Luiz and Marquinhos have all been injured or had fitness concerns at various points during the season.
A long rest for many members of this PSG squad is required so that they will not start next season in questionable health.
That, combined with greater squad depth, will enable Laurent Blanc to rotate his players and keep them in better shape as the campaign progresses. This will be particularly important if the team reaches the latter stages of the Champions League once again.
Laurent Blanc’s Future
4 of 5
Central to many, if not all, of PSG’s decisions this summer should be the future of coach Laurent Blanc.
If Le President manages to bring home a first-ever French domestic treble, the capital club have no right firing him in order to bring in a more prestigious tactician.
However, according to Le Parisien’s Dominique Severac (in French) on Thursday, the 49-year-old may choose to leave the Parc des Princes of his own accord after growing frustrated at the club’s impatience for success as well as the absence of a sporting director.
Knowing what Blanc’s plans are for next season is key to PSG’s future.
If the Frenchman stays, a sporting director becomes more of a must than it already is, while a squad overhaul will also be absolutely vital. Blanc staying means that the team will be playing more or less the same 4-3-3 system next season as we have seen since he took over in 2013, and that system now requires a stronger squad in order for it to yield better results.
Blanc has done enough to merit staying in charge for next season, and his increased levels of authority over certain star members of the team since Christmas—notably Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi—suggests that if he does remain in Paris, things will finally be done on his terms.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Future
5 of 5
The final issue that PSG must confront this summer is the possible exit of star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
It has been a frustrating season for the super Swede, littered with injury issues and controversy, not to mention a declining level of performance on the pitch.
That said, the 33-year-old remains an important player for Les Parisiens and a vital part of the club’s image off the pitch.
Should Ibrahimovic break Pauleta’s all-time club record of 109 goals—scored over six years in Paris—then there will be little left for the talismanic striker to achieve in the French capital. Currently, the PSG No. 10 needs five goals to equal the record—in just under three years—and six to break it.
Considering that he is that close to usurping the legendary Portuguese striker, the idea of breaking that record is likely of great appeal to Ibrahimovic and will likely remain one of his main motivations.
However, a three-match domestic ban for his recent referee rant means that he only has five games in which to score at least six times, and not the seven remaining games that PSG have between now and the end of the season.
If Ibrahimovic does not break that record, he will likely remain in Paris for one more season until his contract ends in June of 2016. Should he break it though, that achievement could see him call time on his PSG career this summer.
The Swede deciding to leave Ligue 1 this summer would be a big blow for the capital club, and it would change their entire summer approach to the transfer market, considering his importance to the club’s image off the pitch as well as his contribution on it.
A potential Ibrahimovic departure would not only mean that a player like Edinson Cavani stays at Parc des Princes, but that PSG would almost certainly go after a new star name to replace him instead of strengthening the squad depth ahead of a Champions League assault next season.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
