Javier Pastore Breathes Much-Needed Life into Ligue 1 Football

With his first touch of the game last Sunday at the Parc des Princes during Paris Saint-Germain's eventual 1-0 victory over Brest, new boy Javier Pastore showed exactly the sort of creative intent he appears dedicated toward fostering in his new environs.

A quick, volleyed flick between his legs returned a throw-in back to its taker. It was done so quickly, and with such nonchalant ease, that you might have missed its inherent wizardry. Though it would prove a mere driblet when viewed in the context of the entire match, it signaled just the sort of stylistic revolution that is currently underway in the French capital.

The former Palermo man, signed this summer for €42 million—smashing the previous Ligue 1 transfer record set just one year before by Yoann Gourcuff's €22m move from Bordeaux to Lyon—was the crown jewel in an offseason spending spree by Paris' new Qatar Investment Authority ownership. Petrodollars were flying as they secured the services of players such as Blaise Matuidi, Kevin Gameiro, Jeremy Menez, Nicolas Douchez and, most recently, Diego Lugano.

While the surrounding talent is formidable, without Pastore it often appears to be an engine missing its most vital piston. Since he has begun playing, Paris have gone unbeaten in five matches, outscoring their opponents 12-2 along the way.

The Argentinian's long, languid stride and impeccable control have set Paris aflame during that stretch. Match commentators often seem torn with whether to toss journalistic neutrality aside, so captivating are Pastore's turns on the ball. Reference Pastore's debut—a Europa League match against FC Differdange in which the Parisien No. 27 put on a technical clinic of Zidane-esque grandeur during a 4-0 rout.

It is Pastore's uncanny ingenuity, coupled with a fearless propensity to try the audacious, that has turned Ligue 1 football on its head.

For a domestic campaign usually besmirched by cagey encounters, where opposing teams often arrive looking for a draw and employing the sort of (negative) tactics requisite to do just that, the arrival of a young man who makes the pitch his personal 90-minute playground couldn't have come at a more opportune time.

Paris are expected to provide a fitting return for the near-hundred million Euros that have been infused into the side in just one summer—a sort of electro-convulsive therapy designated to reawaken what had become a slumbering giant in recent campaigns.

Last season's encouraging fourth-placed finish helped mask a dreadful 2009-10 when Paris were mired in the middle of the Ligue 1 table, and the Parc des Princes was closed off to spectators after an ugly, bloody brawl before the Marseille derby. PSG would finish an eventual (unlucky) 13th that season, with triumph in the Coupe de France helping temper an otherwise forgettable campaign.

For the only top footballing side in one of the world's biggest cities, PSG simply had too much going for it to be in such a maudlin state.

Into this reclamation project steps Pastore, who provides the sort of creative verve and guile not seen in the capital city since Ronaldinho was enjoying his nuits blanches (all-nighters) nearly 10 years ago.

It's difficult to believe sometimes that this club has been in existence for only 41 years, so illustrious is their pedigree—the '90s the oft-referenced high point, when PSG were a regular in Champions League football and won the oddly named 1996 European Cup Winners Cup.

With Pastore pulling the strings now in his attacking midfield role, Paris look locked into a seat of exponential ascendancy. Nothing short of Champions League qualification this season will be deemed an unequivocal failure, and many have pegged PSG as the odds-on favorite to nab the Ligue 1 crown.

Now is the time to start watching the new-look Parisiens. While the process of enmeshing such disparate offseason acquisitions will take time, they are playing some truly sumptuous stuff at times. And it will only get better from here.

With Pastore, of course, leading the charge.