Paying the tops of the world charges Paris Saint-Germain 402 million euros ($476 million), but Neymar and Kylian Mbappé failed to score a single goal in the Champions League final.
In total, the pair controlled 23 shots in Lisbon’s Final Eight tournament by locating the net. PSG lost their final 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
The PSG remains too dependent on two big stars and has historically drawn enough from a lot of local talent.
Mbappé was recovering from an ankle injury, but still played a full-fledged role in the semi-finals and finals. Neymar was in excellent physical shape, but wasted many opportunities in the quarter-finals and had no name in the final.
One of the World Cups with 30 goals in 37 games this season, Mbappé wasted a big chance on half-time serve at 0-0 against Bayern. Neymar wasted one before.
Expensive players, even more chess.
They both posted a photo of their sadness to millions of fans on social media: Neymar crying in his hand and Mbappé walking solemnly in front of the winners’ trophy.
Proper illustrated gravitas. Work done in the virtual world.
But on the field, they were reviewed by a Parisian who went to the club’s quarry to be sold to Juventus at the age of 18.
Kingsley Coman broke free through the PSG at the end of his contract, with the ambition of forging a career in his hometown in tatters. The youngest player to play for the club at 16 years and 8 months has made only 4 appearances.
Six years later, his header ended PSG’s hopes as the French club won the Champions League. Instead, Marseille’s fierce rival is alone, showing off 27 years after Captain Didier Deschamps lifted the trophy in Munich.
The PSG’s search for the stars, at a time when Zlatan Ibrahimovic reigned in the perch, expelled Coman and led the club on a silver-laden road to Neymar and Mbappé.
Coman’s decisive moment symbolizes how the accelerated process of psg towards European glory remains imperfect at the end. If the PSG had fully supported his youth academy, perhaps Coman would have been on the PSG flank than tormenting right-back Thilo Kehrer all night.
Perhaps Mbappé, raised in the Paris suburb of Bondy, would have gone through the PSG academy instead of joining Monaco, and then charged the PSG with 180 million euros ($213 million) in 2017 and a money puzzle of fair play.
Having escaped from the radar is disconcerting, but players fall even further on PSG dates.
The wonderful Frenchman Thierry Henry grew up in the southwestern suburbs, but never went to the PSG. Like Mbappé, he went to Monaco.
World Cup champions Paul Pogba (Manchester United) and N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea); Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City) and Anthony Martial (United) are all Parisians whose paths have moved away from the PSG.
A look at the other semi-finalists in Lisbon shows a trend in which Paris-born players are simply careless, sold, released, or even not signaled, as well as the limitations of their scout network.
Tanguy Kouassi, a tall and sublime player from the midfield or midfield, joined Bayern last month despite a strong impression for PSG last season. He turned 18 in June, but the PSG did not point out to him in professional terms.
Dayot Upamecano, half a 21-year-old centre of Leipzig, was born a hundred kilometres (about 60 miles) from Paris, in the commune of Evreux in Normandy. But he joined the Valenciennes academy three hundred kilometers (180 miles) in his mid-teens. He excelled in a quarter-final win over Atletico Madrid and is touted as a long-term star.
His 22-year-old teammate Christopher Nkunku sold through PSG last year after crossing the academy and was impressive when given opportunities. There’s also Jeff Reine-Adelaide, the 22-year-old Lyon midfielder who grew up in the Paris suburb of Champigny-sur-Marne, played for the home team and then for another regional team, Torcy.
Instead of going to PSG, he traveled two hundred kilometers (120 miles) to succeed in Lens at 12; he then went to Arsenal club in the Premier League before finishing in Lyon.
Last summer, other high-rate young players who rose through the PSG ranks left.
Midfielder Adrien Rabiot, 25, has joined Italian champions Juventus after strained contract negotiations ended in a bitter division. The moussa Diathrough winger (21) has been purchased through Bayer Leverkusen and defence Stanley Nsoki (21) has been signed through Nice. Last season, offensive midfielder Yacine Adli, 20, sold to Bordeaux, after betting a match for the club as a promising young man from the suburbs.
Despite all the fiery ability to prove when Neymar and Mbappé are fit, it turns out that players who leave the club too soon, or who are not identified or signed, are costing PSG.
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