3 Paris Saint-Germain Players with Points to Prove in Pre-Season

As soon as Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi publicly criticised then-manager Laurent Blanc, the writing was on the wall. On Tuesday afternoon, PSG confirmed the appointment of Unai Emery as the new head coach in the French capital.

Under Blanc, you always knew what you were going to get. Especially over the last 18 months, you knew who was going to play and which positions they would take up.

With a new man in charge, everything is up for grabs. New relationships will be formed, new opinions will be made and everyone starts with a clean slate.

Players who were outsiders and fancy themselves as being able to play a bigger role have a chance to change how people perceive them within the team.

That happens in pre-season. Work hard, show your worth and make yourself an option to the new manager, and you could have a chance of playing more next season.

Everyone's position needs to be put under threat. Complacency was one of Blanc's biggest problems. However, it is up to the players who didn't play to make a point, make it loud and prove to the new coach they need to be part of the new era.

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Jean-Kevin Augustin

Teenager Jean-Kevin Augustin must have thought he had done enough last year. Kicking off pre-season with five goals in four games, he should have been in contention for considerable minutes during the campaign.

He wasn't. It's easy to criticise his performances when he was on the pitch, but it was a situation created by Blanc.

Augustin was only handed 13 appearances in Ligue 1 last season, with only four coming from the start. Against Montpellier, in Week 3 of the season, he came on for 22 minutes in the 1-0 victory. That was the longest spell he was given off the bench.

He played 90 minutes against Lille and 89 minutes in the 2-0 win over Guingamp.

Sadly, the 19-year-old's lack of minutes played a huge part in his inability to affect games. Coming on for 10, 14 or 11 minutes—and one minute against Lorient—created a situation that saw the young striker try too hard to impress.

Everything looked rushed. He would misplace passes, miss chances and just look nervous.

Under Emery, Augustin will have a chance to show he does have a future at the club. On one hand, he could benefit from a loan move next season, but it would do no harm to impress the new boss in pre-season.

Playing more minutes, giving himself a chance to grow into a game and not just in 10-minute bursts, and Emery will get a chance to see the full potential in the youngster.

“I’ve made progress in front of the goal,” the player told Loic Tanzi Goal. “But I still have a lot of progress to make to get to that level. Training with big stars every day, you can only succeed. My team-mates tell me I must think of hitting the target before I start to think about shooting hard.”

Knowing where you have to improve is a great sign for a young striker. He will continue to train with some of the best players in the world, and it is then up to him and Emery to take his game to the next level.

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Layvin Kurzawa

Signed for €25 million from AS Monaco last summer, everyone—and probably even Layvin Kurzawa—expected the France left-back to push his way into the PSG first team in the season just gone.

Although another year older, Maxwell turned back the clock and was excellent once again, earning himself another contract extension.

Kurzawa played significant minutes, starting 17 out of PSG's 38 league games, coming off the bench twice. Amazingly, he scored four times and added five assists, a superb return for a second-string defender.

Despite the Brazilian's new deal, this has to be the year when Kurzawa steps up and takes the starting role. His move possibly cost him a place in Didier Deschamps' Euro 2016 squad. He can't let that happen again.

As soon as pre-season starts, having had time to rest and reflect this summer, Kurzawa has to impress Emery from Day 1 and make that left-back position his own.

He has a wonderful left foot. He has the ability to push up and down the flank for 90 minutes. By providing extra width in attack, plus his defensive contribution, he could be like a new signing if given regular minutes.

Kurzawa has Champions League experience, reaching the quarter-finals with Monaco in 2014-15.

"I'll do my best to play," Kurzawa told reporters during his unveiling last summer. "Between Maxwell and me, the best player will start. But I want to have playing time here.

 "I knew there would be strong competition. I have to be the best, and respect Maxwell, who is a great professional and who I'm sure will help me improve."

This summer, it's up to Kurzawa to show just how much he has improved during the 12 months he has spent in the French capital.

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Benjamin Stambouli

Although he is still only 25 years old, Benjamin Stambouli's career has somewhat stagnated since he left Montpellier in 2014.

The move to Tottenham Hotspur didn't work. It never felt like he was the player they wanted. They were linked with Morgan Schneiderlin at the time, such as by the Guardian, but Southampton's refusal to sell led Spurs toward Stambouli.

After 12 league appearances for the London club, his move to PSG in 2015 was seen as a chance for the Marseille native to restart, but it has fallen flat.

He started 18 games last season, playing 1,500 minutes. In 27 appearances, he averaged just over 55 minutes per game. If you watched any of those minutes, it would be hard to say his time in the French capital has been memorable.

WhoScored.com handed the midfielder an average rating of 6.90 out of 10, one of the lowest in the squad. His pass-completion rate sat at 90.9 per cent, just 0.1 percentage point ahead of Adrien Rabiot but below Blaise Matuidi, Thiago Motta, Marco Verratti and even Christopher Nkunku.

His lack of influence over the midfield is clear to see, with his average passes down at 50.8 per game. It's nowhere near Motta's 93.1 or Verratti's 82.2. He is only two passes short of Matuidi's 52.8, but as he is played as a box-to-box player and Stambouli is the holder, the former Montpellier man's average should be higher.

Stambouli's position is slipping. Sevilla's Grzegorz Krychowiak has been linked, the emergence of Nkunku has been interesting and Stambouli can only watch as his place in the squad slips away.

When pre-season starts, Les Parisiens will be without Motta, Matuidi and Verratti, giving Stambouli a chance to get minutes and show Emery what he can do. It's not to say he will displace any of the aforementioned players, but he has to convince his new boss he is worthy of a place in his squad.

At this stage, that position is in major doubt. It's up to Stambouli to change that in the summer.