Home   >   Opinion   >   PSG on an unstoppable rise to dominance?

PSG on an unstoppable rise to dominance?

By on August 6, 2015

Paris Saint-Germain just left another global football power in their dust.  The French champions plucked Manchester United’s marquee star Angel di Maria and in the process, leapfrogged the market value of United’s team.  Per transfermarkt.com, only six more clubs stand in the way of PSG’s path to global domination and should they make another signing this summer, Laurent Blanc’s starting squad could easily outstrip the value of Arsenal’s and Manchester City’s.

Of course, money doesn’t speak for football.  If that were the case, PSG’s Qatari owners would have made the club the biggest in the world a long time ago.  Its what one does with the money.

Qatar Sports Investment took over in 2011 and the opportunity was mouth-watering.  PSG is one of only three professional clubs based in Paris, and you’ve never heard of the other two; both were recently promoted to Ligue 2.

Only one player, Jean Christophe Bahebeck, remains from that team.  Three consecutive league titles later and the club have clearly conquered French domestic football.  The next most valuable squad in France, that of Olympique Lyonnais, isn’t worth half as much as PSG’s current lineup.

Yet it goes without saying that the club is unsatisfied — their goal from the start was to conquer Europe and win the Champions League.  That’s the basis on which Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Luiz and most recently Di Maria joined the club.

Last season, they reached the Quarterfinals after beating Chelsea in the Round of 16.  The Parisians proved they were on par with the Premier League champions and of a stature just a notch below the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.  Yet PSG were outclassed and outplayed by Barca in an aggregate 5-1 defeat.

This coming season, the league title race is non-existent with PSG 1/6 favorites to retain the league.  The Coupe De France is theirs to keep as well.  But PSG’s entire season will be based around the Champions League.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has seemingly improved with age but likely won’t last past this coming season as PSG’s main man.  This coming season will also be the peak of the generation of Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Edison Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi, all of whom are older than twenty-eight.  Fall short again and a re-think and rebuilding phase would be required.

The circumstances, it seems, are ripe.  If Di Maria can discover his form again in time for a knockout phase run, PSG will have a shot at bridge the gap between Chelsea and Barcelona; from dark horses to contenders.  None of their main Champions League rivals has invested much in summer upgrades while PSG have only gotten better.

And if they do win?  Everything has been built up to a Champions League title but then the future is left seemingly blank.  If they don’t win, PSG will keep going back to the drawing board until they do, sometime in the foreseeable future; but if they do, more and more players will join the ship and PSG will have undoubtedly bridged the gap the world’s best.  As long as the club has an endless backing of money and an infinite will, the opportunities are also infinite.

Photo credit: Doha Stadium Plus Qatar from Doha, Qatar, via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.