Javier Pastore Will Be PSG's Player to Watch in Pre-Season

Sometimes, injuries and factors off the pitch can hamper a player's chances of reaching their full potential, no matter how talented they are. Javier Pastore fits that profile, and the Argentinian midfielder will be the Paris Saint-Germain player to watch in pre-season.

During the last campaign, we saw glimpses of the magic that Pastore can bring to the beautiful game, but PSG need more than just moments, they need consistency.

With Unai Emery taking over this summer, places are up for grabs—this pre-season is a time for all the players to show the new boss who he can rely on.

Pressure mounted on the Argentina international this week with the signing of Hatem Ben Arfa on a free transfer. At times last season, playing for OGC Nice, the Frenchman was explosive, creative and a force of nature in Ligue 1.

After his failures to deliver at Newcastle United or Hull City in England, the spotlight will be on Ben Arfa this season to see if he can continue this new-look, or if he will revert back to the troubled attacker that many still believe him to be.

With that pushing on the 29-year-old, he will be fully motivated for this season. Pastore has to hit the ground running, and that’s running past the opposition in that beautiful gliding style—something we’ve not seen enough of lately.

Last term, a whole host of injuries stopped Pastore from gaining momentum in the first-team. In the end, he only made 16 league appearances. Eleven of them came from the start, and he contributed six assists during that time.

It was not his best return in a PSG shirt, but it was far from his worst. Fans and staff will be looking for the Pastore they watched in his debut season: the one who was dangerous all over the pitch, who made six assists and scored 13 goals in Ligue 1. 

Interestingly, those figures are similar to Ben Arfa’s season with Nice. The former Marseille and Lyon man finished with 17 goals and four assists in league action. These two players are likely to go head-to-head, and Pastore will have one last chance to become a star at the Parc des Princes.

Outside of that first season, the best Pastore has played was during the 2014/15 campaign. As Zlatan Ibrahimovic continued to miss games through injury, Pastore was able to play his more natural role and became a creative influence over the team once again.

Laurent Blanc tweaked his formation to 4-3-1-2 with Pastore in the No. 10 role behind two forwards, and it paid off. In 31 league appearances, he contributed 12 assists and five goals. He finished that season at the Copa America—Argentina would again fall at the final hurdle, but the former Palermo man enjoyed an excellent tournament.

“I am playing here to make things easier for [Lionel Messi] and for [Angel] Di Maria,” Pastore told the Copa America website, via Eurosport's Dan Quarrell, after the 6-1 win over Paraguay. “What I like most is setting up goals. When I give a pass that ends up being a goal I enjoy it more than anything else.”

That’s the player PSG need back this summer. He should have been coming back after another successful Copa America experience, but injury stopped that. Pastore nearly missed out completely before the tournament, per Goal's Sam Williams. He would be included, but as La Albiceleste lost to Chile in the final, the PSG man wouldn’t play a single minute.

Once back in Paris, he needs to concentrate on gaining fitness, getting on the pitch and preparing himself for the new campaign. When Blanc arrived three seasons ago, Pastore was a player that caught his eye—the Argentinian needs to do that again with Emery.

"He [Pastore] is a player who has many questions, perhaps asking too many of himself," Blanc told reporters after a 2-0 win over Guingamp in 2013. "He has trained to my complete satisfaction since I arrived. But there is still a mismatch between his training and his matches. He needs to find his best."

It seemed to also frustrate Blanc that he couldn’t quite keep the Argentinian fit throughout his time at the club. When you witness what he is capable of, you are always hoping he can find that ability to perform and become a leader.

"Javier, he is just...unpredictable," Blanc admitted, via FourFourTwo, after he scored twice against Nice in 2015. "This boy does things that only talented players like him can do. At the same time, he is able to do things that can't be rationally explained.”

"He can sometimes put at risk the team, even if at the end of the day we won 3-1 and he scored two goals," the Frenchman added. "So I can only congratulate him but when I must tell him off, I'll do it because he is someone who needs that."

During Blanc’s reign, Pastore often made up the numbers as one of the three central midfielders. Playing on the left or the right, he would be allowed to push forward, but he would be asked to contribute defensively—which isn’t always a great idea.

"But he is a player who wants so much of the ball that he wants the others to always give him the ball even if he is only 20 metres from our goalkeeper,” Blanc continued after the Nice win. “I would prefer him to be 20 metres from the opposite goal. As dangerous as it can often be in front of the opposite goal, he can also be a real danger in front of our goal.”

That leads to the new campaign under Emery. The Spaniard favours playing 4-2-3-1, and there is little chance, especially with the signing of Grzegorz Krychowiak from his old club Sevilla, that Pastore will play anywhere but in the attacking three.

He will have to fight with Ben Arfa for the No. 10 role, but he will also have to battle with Lucas Moura and Di Maria—plus anyone else Emery signs—for a spot in the starting XI.

It's just over a year since the former Huracan midfielder extended his deal at PSG until the summer of 2019. That means after another 12 months it would be the perfect time to sell the Argentinian if he failed to make the mark, with two years on his contract still to run.

Emery will likely give Pastore a year to prove himself as a major player in the team, but then it is up to the player to take those opportunities with both hands.

The quality is there. Six assists in 11 starts echo the potential he still has to provide. If fit, and if given consistent minutes, he could easily produce a season to remember. If he is going to do that, he needs to start showing it in pre-season.

If he fails to impress, Emery might look elsewhere before Ligue 1 even kicks off. Pastore can’t afford that to happen, and it is up to the playmaker to show his new boss and everyone at the club that he can still be the world-beating talent they signed from Palermo for €42 million in 2011.