With Manchester City having lifted their first UEFA Champions League trophy this season, Paris Saint-Germain remain perhaps the last club to be considered underperformers on the continental stage, with all their investment and the talent on their roster not translating to success on the biggest stage of European club football. This season, they lost to Bayern Munich in the round of 16, meaning they have failed to cross the first knockout round of the competition in 5 of the last 7 years. They did reach the final in the Covid-shortened 2019-20 season, but fell short at the last hurdle to the team from Munich.
PSG’s team of superstars has also begun to shrink, with Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos amongst the names to leave the club this season. While their ageing legends will be replaced with younger, high-potential players, it remains a risk for a club which has certainly underperformed since their Qatar-led takeover. They also stand the risk of losing out on the face of their club, Parisian star and France’s best player, in Kylian Mbappe, as the 24-year-old grows increasingly disenfranchised by the manner in which the club is being run. He has been hovering around the edges of a transfer to Real Madrid for several years, and has chosen not to take up the option to extend his contract when it runs out next year.
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‘We knew there were shortcomings’
In a very straightforward interview with La Gazetta della Sport in Italy, Mbappe gave his opinion on the struggles at PSG in recent years. “At the top level, for a competitor like me, the goal is to win all the titles,” said Mbappe. “We knew there were shortcomings that sooner or later we end up paying for. We have to learn from the mistakes of each season, not to repeat them every time – these are not empty words.”
While Paris have had the misfortune of running into some of Europe’s best teams early in the knockout rounds of the UCL, they also have disappointing losses such as that to a Manchester United team led by rookie manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019, in which a last-minute Marcus Rashford penalty knocked them out. They also failed to capitalize on a 1-0 first leg lead against eventual champions Real Madrid in the 21-22 season.
Mbappe maintaining high levels for some years
Mbappe continued, “Individually, on the other hand, I have been maintaining high levels for some years. I want to continue progressing to always remain at the top.” Mbappe, who exploded onto the scene with AS Monaco in 2016-17, has developed into one of the best footballers in the world since, capping that status by becoming only the second player to score a hattrick in a World Cup final, albeit in a losing cause. Already a world champion with France in 2018, European silverware remains the only absence on his record, which explains his temptation to join 14-time European champions Real Madrid.
On a personal front, Mbappe has 34 goals and 26 assists in his UCL career, and while he has been surrounded by world class quality in the form of Neymar Jr, Marco Verratti, and Marquinhos, along with a rotating cast of stars such as Edinson Cavani, Angel di Maria, and Messi, Paris have never been able to put together a team capable of winning the ultimate prize since Thomas Tuchel’s departure for Chelsea in 2021. There will be another change in a manager’s chair which has seen a rapid succession of moves over the last decade, with Christophe Galtier already moving out of the role to make way for Luis Enrique, who won the treble with FC Barcelona in 2014-15.
Mbappe has scored 148 times in 156 appearances for the Parisiens, but his time at the club might be coming to an end. It remains to be seen if he sees out his contract and moves to a club of his choice next summer, or if Paris cash in on an offer, should a lucrative enough one come in from the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United’s upcoming new ownership, or elsewhere in Europe.