Could PSG Cope with Zlatan Ibrahimovic Loss If They Decide to Sell to AC Milan?

Since the end of the domestic football season, speculation has been swirling regarding the future of Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

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According to Sky Sport Italia (h/t Football Italia), the Swede has told former club AC Milan that he wants a return, and the ailing Italian giants must now work out a deal with the French champions if they want to reacquire the 33-year-old.

Milan could face opposition from local rivals Internazionale Milan, after Nerazzurri boss Roberto Mancini admitted to Sky Sport Italia (h/t ESPN FC’s Ben Gladwell) that he would like to see Ibrahimovic return to another of his former Serie A clubs.

Regardless, the interest from the two Milan outfits asks PSG the same question. Will Les Parisiens be able to cope with the loss of their star man if they decide to sell him this summer?

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There is an argument to say that Laurent Blanc’s men have already been learning how to cope without the talismanic Ibrahimovic for the past 12 months or so and are now becoming quite adept at doing so.

Since their 3-1 win over Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg of the 2013-14 season back in April of last year—when Ibrahimovic got injured and subsequently missed five weeks of action—PSG have been playing without their No. 10 more and more.

The towering striker recovered to feature in three more games that season, but he was injured for no fewer than 14 Ligue 1 matches in the 2014-15 campaign and had six different injury or suspension-related breaks over the course of the term.

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During those absences, the capital club had to play some difficult matches and often did so without feeling his loss too severely.

PSG beat eventual Champions League winners Barcelona 3-2 in the group stage, while also seeing off AS Monaco in the Coupe de France and—most impressively—Chelsea in Europe’s last 16 after Ibrahimovic was shown a harsh straight red card.

Despite those impressive displays in his absence, as well as some convincing victories over more straightforward Ligue 1 opponents toward the end of the season, Zlatan has still been important when available.

A brace from the Swede helped PSG to a 4-0 win over SC Bastia in the Coupe de la Ligue final, his first taste of league cup success after missing the 2013-14 showpiece because of the aforementioned injury suffered against Chelsea last April.

Ibrahimovic also netted two hat-tricks and three doubles in the space of eight domestic games at the end of the 14-15 season.

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However, those brilliant performances are becoming less frequent, and at 33 years old—34 in October—Zlatan is not getting any younger. Although seen as an indomitable physical force, there will come a moment when the sands of time start to tell for the player’s body, and it appears that this moment might actually already be here.

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There is uncertainty over whether the left heel injury that ruled him out for almost two months between September and November will ever really go away.

Added to the fact that Ibrahimovic has said all along that he intends to leave Paris at the end of his contract in 2016, those physical issues mean that this summer could be PSG’s only chance to make some money by selling their star man.

His departure would also free up a huge slice of the French champions’ heavy wage bill.

On top of that, Zlatan’s future would permanently empower four of Les Parisiens’ most influential current players.

Should the two-time Ligue 1 top scorer move on, then there is an even greater chance that Edinson Cavani remains in Paris—although the Uruguayan already looks certain to stay.

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El Matador really found form toward the end of the season and actually outscored Ibrahimovic by a single goal, with 31 across all competitions compared with his strike partner’s 30. The Scandinavian star leaving PSG would mean that Cavani finally gets to play as the team’s focal point in every game and not out wide.

Gifted Argentinian playmaker Javier Pastore has been thriving in his new—seemingly permanent—No. 10 role, which is his preferred position.

Occupying that area of the pitch limits Ibrahimovic’s ability to drop back and pick up the ball, and putting El Flaco back in the midfield stifles his ability to dictate the pace of games. Zlatan no longer being part of the starting XI would keep Pastore in his most productive role.

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Lucas Moura is also back from injury and plays on the right of a front three in Blanc’s ideal formation.

If Ibrahimovic was no longer there, Cavani would be able to occupy his favoured central role. Lucas and Pastore could then either occupy one wide berth each, or the Argentina international could sit just behind the Uruguayan and the Brazilian.

This is something that Blanc has experimented with when Zlatan has been unavailable, and it has produced cohesive displays in attack.

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An Ibrahimovic departure would also impact Marco Verratti’s role at the club. The Italian has come into his own to such a degree since his 2012 arrival—on the same day that the Swede was signed—that he is now arguably as big an attraction at Parc des Princes as the PSG No. 10 himself.

The pint-sized Azzurri star would become the new face of Les Parisiens’ ambitious project by default if Zlatan was to depart.

It is not all positive though. There are still a number of reasons why PSG might not benefit from Ibrahimovic returning to Italy this summer, and the most significant argument to keep him lies away from the pitch.

However, sticking on it for now, there is an argument to say that Cavani has not yet fully proved his ability to permanently take over the mantle as the French giants’ main attacking threat from Zlatan this summer.

Although the Uruguayan’s scoring record with SSC Napoli in Serie A was immensely impressive, El Matador is still yet to hit 20 goals in a Ligue 1 season—although he would undoubtedly have done that in 14-15 had the campaign been just one or two games longer.

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Admittedly, Ibrahimovic did not hit 20 last term either, but the Swede missed 14 Ligue 1 games alone and was only one solitary strike away from passing the 20-goal mark for the third consecutive campaign in France.

Cavani was PSG’s main source of goals across all competitions, but he has to be more ruthless in the league if he wants to adequately fill Zlatan’s boots and has to be targeting the 30-goal barrier each season.

That said though, the arrival of a more productive left-sided player could help compensate for the difference between Cavani and Ibrahimovic’s league goals.

Off the pitch is where the main argument to keep the iconic Swede comes from—then and there he remains indispensable. This summer is not the right time to lose Zlatan in terms of image.

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Since his arrival in 2012, Ibrahimovic has been the face of this ambitious PSG project, and now the two names are almost synonymous. It is difficult to think of the French champions and for Zlatan to not be one of your first thoughts and vice versa.

If PSG could replace Ibrahimovic with another star who possesses similar or greater global appeal this summer, then perhaps the possibility of the club looking to move him on would be increased.

However, the French capital outfit cannot simply go out and buy a new figurehead to lead their attempts to become a continental powerhouse because of UEFA’s financial fair play (FFP) restrictions.

Jacques Brinon/Associated Press

With PSG still suffering from severe FFP sanctions, luring the likes of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus’ Paul Pogba or Manchester United’s Angel Di Maria to Paris —players who could arguably replace Ibrahimovic as the face of this PSG side—remains a pipe dream.

Even finding an adequate replacement for Zlatan’s 20-30 goals per season guarantee would not be easy, with few affordable alternatives inside or outside of Ligue 1.

Although the argument that PSG could cope without Ibrahimovic on the field outweighs the old claims that the team are too Ibra-dependent, the club still very much relies on him and the exposure he brings off the pitch.

Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) are unlikely to risk their big-money project losing momentum while FFP remains an issue, so ultimately the French champions’ view will almost certainly be that they cannot afford to let go of him just yet.

If Ibrahimovic really wants to join Milan this summer, then he will have to force his way out at PSG. If he decides to do that, then the situation could become very difficult for all concerned parties.