El Paris Saint-Germain has put eleven players on the transfer listfor now no to brazilian Neymaralthough the task of finding them a team is very complicated, depending on the case, due to the high transfers that are requested, the high salaries they charge or the little market they have.
Continuing with the line that the new coach Christophe Galtier marked in his presentation press conference last Tuesday: “You have to reduce the workforce. You can’t have players who almost never play throughout the season.” The Parisian board has got down to work, L’Equipe and Le Parisien point out this Sunday in almost coincident information.
After the departure of the Brazilian Leonardo as sports director and the arrival of Luis Campos as external advisor, the task of looking for exits corresponds to another Portuguese, Antero Henrique, who was sports director between 2017 and 2019.
The center of the field is the most affected line, with six men who are looking for a way out, and where PSG is being more active when it comes to signing (the portuguese has already arrived Vitinha, coming from Porto, and the negotiation with his compatriot is very advanced Renato Sanchesdel Lille).
A first problem faced by Henrique is the high prices that some players have been asking for.
Ace, the Argentine midfielder Leandro Paredes (28 years old and with two more years on his contract) was valued at 35 million euros, which curbed Manchester United’s interest, according to L’Equipe.
He adds that the same thing happened with the central Senegalese Abdou Diallo (26 years old and also with two years remaining), so Tottenham’s interest faded in favor of the transfer of Barcelona player Clment Lenglet.
Other players have been greatly devalued during their stay in Paris, such as the Dutch Giorgini Wijnaldum (31 years old and with a contract until 2024) or the Argentine Mauro Icardi (29 years old and also signed for two more seasons), so it would take “a miracle” for them to come out, acknowledges L’Equipe.
The high chips held by Parisian players are another obstacle at a time when many European teams are tightening their belts.
Icardi would earn about 9.6 million gross per year, while the left back Layvin Kurzawa -29 years old and barely playing- has a record of 6 million per year for two more seasons.
The file of the Spanish midfielder Andrew Herrerawith 33 years and two more years of contract, is around 8 million gross, while that of his German linemate Julian Draxler (also tied to 2024), would be about 6.75 million.
The Parisian team is confident that some of the transfers will show flexibility in order to get playing time and have a chance of being called up for the World Cup in Qatar that begins in November.
Then there is the case of Neymar, that at 30 years old he does not have the official poster of transferable.
Galtier spared no praise for the Brazilian star attacker in his first appearance: “He’s a world-class player, one of the best in the world, but you have to find a balance”. In any case, he stressed: “I want him to stay”.
Nevertheless, the new Parisian coach, known for being stricter than his predecessors, He also made it clear that there is a new sports leadership at PSG that wants to prioritize team spirit beyond personal whims.
“There won’t be any players above the team,” he stated, before warning that “if there are players who get out of line, they will be discarded”.
Le Parisien, considered the outlet with the best sources at PSG, highlights that the club has no sporting reproaches towards Neymar, even if his performance has dropped, but non-sporting, because “multiplies misconduct” for example arriving “frequently” late for training.
“If you don’t show a radical desire to change, the door will be opened even if your transfer will be complex“, adds the newspaper. His record of around 40 million per year and a contract that runs until 2027 will not help the possible task of finding a destination for him.
Despite the difficulty, L’Equipe recalls that Henrique already demonstrated his effectiveness in his previous stint at PSG, when he achieved several good transfers, such as Gonzalo Guedes to Valencia (40 million euros) and Yuri Berchiche to Athletic Bilbao (24 million).
