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Press and Internet Review, All about the PSG in English (Only Articles, No Comments)
parcdesprinces
posté 01/08/2011 11:24
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PSG = Pastore, Sirigu & Gameiro



Back in the early mid nineties I enjoyed watching some French football. As a Rangers fan I hated Marseille but I liked seeing PSG and then Monaco. PSG were an exciting but also strong with top players like Youri Djorkaeff, Alain Roche, George Weah, Bernard Lama, Paul Le Guen and the very gifted Brazilian Rai. Monaco then came on the scene complete with young stars like Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet as well as those two the has a Scot in john Collins and had players like Enzo Scifo, Sylvain Legwinski, Fabien Barthez and Sonny Anderson who I admired from a far. Then my French appreciation declined when Lyon dominated in Ligue 1.

Well now in 2011 as the new season gets ready to start, my interest has been rekindled. PSG have been bought over by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) who are owned by Crowned Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Now I will concentrate on this new Parisian revolution in this article but I should mention that this exciting 2011/12 Ligue 1 season will not involve Monaco as they were relegated at the end of last term… Things certainly have change in France.



Now Qatari influence has been creeping into world football for a few years now The Qatar Foundation became the first sponsors of European champions Barcelona in a deal worth a staggering $200m , they tried to buy Manchester United, Their TV network Al-Jazeera has bought up a lot of TV rights over the world, then there was their successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup and the recent fiasco with FIFA which led to Qatari official Mohammed Bin Hammam being banished from the far from squeaky clean world football governing body.

So its no surprise they have now acquired a European club but has the decision to buy PSG been a surprise?

Well in some ways yes and in others no.

First why yes?

Well the Qatari people love to make the biggest impact so people may have thought that the would go into the Spanish, Italian or English markets with Everton being obvious targets. These leagues give ultimate exposure and have been dominating European football for almost twenty years.

So why no?

Well by purchasing Paris Saint-Germain and by running them properly they will expect European/Champions League qualification each and every season. In France there are less financial competitors to worry about. Ligue 1 has always been a very good league and a place were stars hone their skills before becoming world class talents. Then there is Paris itself, one of the worlds top top cities yet their team have never totally dominated European football. So that is the challenge make a team from the beautiful French capital beat the likes of Barca, Man Utd, the Milan sides and Real Madrid on a regular basis. The city and money can attract top players as it has before but this time they will be able to keep them too!



So what can PSG fans expect now?

Well the new owners have not been slow in getting their new project up on its feet. After helping the club to a top four finish last season former player Antoine Kombouare has kept his job as First Team Coach. I hope he remains there as he is a talented boss who gets the players playing for him. I remember Antoine joining Aberdeen for a few years towards the end of his career and even then he was coaching the players around him and organising the defence in a very structured fashion. He has passion for his job and he seems like a deep thinker. But his new employers have brought in another former PSG player to help him out in the form of former AC and Inter manager Leonardo. An appointment which will surely have Kombouare sleeping with one eye open and he will only truly be satisfied that his job is not already the Brazilians when he gets through a bad spell of results without being sacked.



Leo has came in as Sporting Director, a job he preformed at AC Milan for a few years and for me a job that is more suited to forty-one year old. His links in Brazil and Italy are extremely strong and his ability to spot a player are fantastic just look at the job he did in bringing in Kaka, Alexandre Pato and Thiago Silva to AC. All three counted Leo as a reason for going to Milan. He also becomes very friendly with the players which is maybe why he wasn’t totally successful as a coach as you need that distance, although his tactics could be called into question too. As a Sporting Director he can spot which players to bring in, become their confidant and not interfere with first team affairs and by doing that he be a huge success in Paris. The fact he speaks at least six languages helps immensely as well.

Look out for the French giants now being linked with Neymar, Ganso and Sao Paulo’s Lucas in the future as the QSI will hope Leonardo can persuade some of his countries next generation superstars to join him in Paris.



Leo has already used his links to great affect with Jeremy Menez, Mohamed Sissoko and Salvatore Sirigu all coming in from Serie A. They have also added established Ligue 1 stars with French Internationalists Kevin Gameiro and Blaise Matuidi joining from Lorient and St-Etienne. With those players joining the likes of Mamadou Sakho, Peguy Luyindula, Mathieu Bodmer, Sylvain Armand and Nene then surely PSG were always going to challenge current champions Lille, Lyon and Marseille for next seasons championship.

But the QSI group wanted to make a major statement, they wanted to purchase that marquee signing that would make the whole of European football sit up and take notice. So Menez is talented, Sissoko will strengthen the midfield and Sirgu is a keeper with a huge future but Leo and the Qatari owners needed to make a splash that would get everyone talking.

They took a look around the globe and decided to do battle with Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea for the signature of Argentine International Javier Pastore. They were already dealing with Palermo supremo Maurizio Zamparini over the purchase of Salvatore Sirigu and came up with a £39m deal to be paid in three instalments which the Italian club accepted. It was reported that a similar bid from the London side was also accepted and it was a choice between the two for the twenty-two year old. If true then Paris offered a more suitable package to Javier as it looks like the attacking midfielder will be paraded as a PSG player this week. The deal created the desired affect as all of the football world are now talking about Paris Saint-Germain and their new squad.

So why would Pastore sign for PSG ahead of Chelsea?

Well as cities there is not a lot to choose between London and Paris. Money would be very similar. As projects PSG’s is new and looks exciting with owners up for the challenge of making their side one of the best in Europe, while Chelsea’s look a bit stop start with a lack of direction. At PSG Pastore comes in as the top player and like Rai back in the 90s he can expect most of the attacks to come through him, at the Blues he would not be the main man and would be forever battling with the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres for the headlines. Even when negotiating with Palermo, you had a sense that Chelsea really wanted Spurs midfield maestro Luka Modric and maybe Javier got that sense and decided to make the move to France. Plus there is that man Leonardo who Pastore would have met and probably fell in love with!

Their is a new Arab revolution in European football with PSG, Man City and Malaga all splashing their oil laden cash but maybe the purchase of the Parisian club has been the most astute as they were already a big club in their country, have a European history and are probably the most likely to win their league first.

The Ligue 1 championship will be the main target for this maiden season for the mega-rich new owners but a top three finish will get PSG a Champions League spot which is the minimum they want this campaign. But the main aim is to challenge for the top Euro honours which they hope to be doing in within five years.


http://www.thefootyblog.net/
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Les messages de ce sujet
- parcdesprinces   Press and Internet Review   01/08/2011 11:24
- - laleto   Really neat article from an interesting blog, and ...   01/08/2011 14:42
- - Bob   Citation The galactiques of Paris seek to put Fren...   01/08/2011 14:45
- - macbath   Citation Qatari takeover heralds new dawn for Pari...   05/08/2011 18:21
- - Varna   Citation Will Football Ever Have Paris? Stars Are ...   26/08/2011 07:01
- - 11G   Citation Sarkozy orchestrates Qatar's French r...   21/11/2011 11:52
- - 11G   Citation Capital gains: well-connected PSG's r...   21/12/2011 13:50
- - laleto   A True Change of Era at PSG Citation A true chang...   30/12/2011 20:27
- - Varino   Très long à lire: excellent article sur l'hi...   15/03/2012 13:57
- - Nova   La violence de l'article This article's nu...   15/03/2012 14:22
|- - Varino   Citation (Nova @ 15/03/2012 14:22) La vio...   15/03/2012 16:20
|- - Pigeon14   Citation (Varino @ 15/03/2012 15:20) Je s...   15/03/2012 16:24
|- - Nova   Citation (Pigeon14 @ 15/03/2012 17:24) Le...   15/03/2012 17:42
- - Pigeon14   Putain, le mec a fait une vraie enquête ça fait ...   15/03/2012 15:01
- - foyan   26 pages à imprimer Ca va être intéressant tou...   15/03/2012 15:02
- - Iloved   I've read all of this article. Pretty good shi...   15/03/2012 16:15
- - stoner_man   Comme avec CNN, le passé européen de très haut ...   15/03/2012 16:23
- - Averell   that article fucked me up once again....   15/03/2012 18:09
- - Orange_Hitman   Mmmm i don't share your enthusiasm. First of...   15/03/2012 20:13
- - Varino   There are not tons of articles out there, let alon...   15/03/2012 22:12
- - Miles   Citation Kärcher was not exactly excited about th...   31/03/2012 15:33
|- - Kadvael   Here is an article about the PSG business. There a...   18/07/2012 10:36
- - laleto   ^^That is an incredibly well researched article...   19/07/2012 04:58
|- - Kadvael   Citation IBRACADABRA The only French club ever to ...   19/07/2012 12:00
|- - Myrmidon   Citation Ibrahimovic completes PSG move Three-yea...   19/07/2012 12:22
- - macbath   Citation PSG is primed to dominate Ligue 1 When F...   09/08/2012 02:37
- - Varino   RE: Press and Internet Review   13/08/2012 09:04
- - laleto   An interesting article in the sense that it makes ...   16/08/2012 19:22


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