Sporting history is usually made at the peak of a career or the end of a beautiful season – the outcome of something special.
For Paris St-Germain, though, it is the opposite as their historic 11th Ligue 1 title comes despite a difficult, strained and toxic backdrop.
They have become the first French club to win 11 league titles, one more than Saint-Etienne. Yet the campaign has been so tough that the usual satisfaction and feeling of pride will not reach the heights the achievement warrants.
Now, after confirming the title with a 1-1 draw at Strasbourg, Paris St-Germain face a summer of uncertainty with manager Christophe Galtier certain to depart, star players heading for the exit and a new philosophy around the club.
Nine of PSG’s 11 titles have come in the past 12 years. Their dominance may not match Bayern Munich’s in Germany with 11 in a row, or Juventus in Italy with nine in a row up to 2020, but apart from Olivier Giroud’s Montpellier in 2012, Kylian Mbappe’s Monaco in 2017 and Nicolas Pepe’s Lille in 2021, no team in France has come close to them.
Lens and Marseille gave Paris a run for their money this season and, until a few weeks ago, they looked like they could maybe even beat them to it, partly because it has not been a good year, to say the least, for the Parisians, on and off the pitch.
‘A dressing room rocked by ill-discipline of Messi, Mbappe and Neymar’
Galtier was appointed manager last summer to replace Mauricio Pochettino and, despite a good first half of the season in which his team were unbeaten up to the World Cup break, they crumbled at the start of 2023 with eight defeats in the first 19 games of the campaign.
Overall, the former Lille head coach never looked good enough. He never built anything with this team, no identity, no style, while struggling to deal and control a dressing room full of superstars.
He very much used the tactic of ‘give the ball to Lionel Messi, Neymar and Mbappe and they will do the rest’. Of course, ‘the MNM’ were the team’s biggest assets, but also the soap opera of the season.
With the ball, there was clearly no doubt these three could do magical things and their numbers show it: 16 goals and 16 assists in 31 Ligue 1 matches for the Argentine, 13 goals and 11 assists in 20 Ligue 1 games for the Brazilian who was seriously injured in February and never played again this campaign, and 28 goals and five assists in 33 games for the Frenchman.
On paper and in moments of brilliance and genius, this is one of the greatest front threes ever assembled . The reality was quite different. The MNM also made the team unbalanced, incapable of pressing and disjointed. Bayern Munich punished them 3-0 on aggregate in the Champions League last 16, and arch rivals Marseille 2-1 in the French Cup last 16.
Off the pitch, it was not perfect either. Neymar was singled out by the club’s ultras who turned up unannounced at his house one evening four weeks ago to chant for him to get out of their club.
At the same time, Messi missed out on a training session to travel to Saudi Arabia for a promo shoot. It created chaos, he was suspended by the club for two weeks before apologising for his mistake and being reintegrated in the squad.
And in September, Mbappe publicly criticised the manager’s tactics before leaking the news that he has had enough and wanted to leave the club in January despite signing a new deal last May. In the end, he stayed put in the winter transfer window but the ill-discipline of all three rocked a dressing room, which was not united or strong-minded enough in the first place.
A momentous summer ahead for PSG
What is next, then? The club is already working on the next campaign. To start with, Galtier will be fired, a year before the end of his contract despite winning the league.
The shortlist of candidates to replace him is not that short, and includes Luis Enrique, Zinedine Zidane, Jose Mourinho, Marcelo Gallardo, Thiago Motta and Abel Ferreira.
They are all different profiles and are all at different stages of their coaching careers. PSG cannot afford to get this appointment wrong.
In terms of players, there will be a lot of departures, starting with Messi, who will leave when his contract expires on June 30. Neymar is considering a new chapter too, and the club are willing to let him go.
The feeling is that the MNM cannot make you all-conquering, so it is time to dismantle it. PSG now want some younger players – ideally Paris-born or at least French – like Manu Kone, Randal Kolo Muani or Marcus Thuram, with some team players like Manuel Ugarte or Bernardo Silva as well as a world-class number nine such as Harry Kane, Victor Osimhen or Dusan Vlahovic.
Once again, it feels like a momentous summer for Paris St-Germain. For now, the club, the fans and the players will enjoy the title celebrations and making history, even after an unsatisfying season.
