Monday, June 13, 2011

PSG quietly making some strong moves

The transfer season barely opened and PSG already, for once, was aggressive and in the right direction. First they went out and took care of their goalkeeping issue but signing Nicolas Douchez, should finally resolve PSG's long term goalkeeping issues. With Edel being let walk and Coupet retiring, Douchez slots in immediately as the #1...granted had Edel stayed, Douchez would still be the undisputed #1! Maybe Wenger can learn from this move and get himself a true #1 keeper...one that could be lining up for your club for the next decade.
Good long term option for PSG's GK situation

Not stopping there, PSG made a surprise move and acquired Gameiro from Lorient. Why a surprise? Gameiro was heavily linked with La Liga for 2 seasons and more recently some EPL clubs. The fact PSG was able to swoop in and grab the French striker bodes well for the Parisian club. According to reports, PSG is not done. They have targeted Matuidi from St Etteinne to be their holding midfielder to replace the retiring Makelele. It appears that PSG will get Matuidi as long as they can agree on the price. If PSG stops there, I would say that is already a good transfer season (assuming as well that they hold on to the likes of Sakho). Douchez solves their keeper issues, Gameiro will be an upgrade for the PSG strike force. I do not see Erding sticking around and with Hourau struggling a bit, adding the Ligue 1 scoring leader will be an upgrade.

PSG have also inquired about Gervinho from Lille, but LOSC has stated they will not sell him within Ligue 1. It is not coincidence that this new aggressive tact from PSG coincides with investment from Qatar. With a new infusion of capital, PSG can be more aggressive in the market. However this is not any different from other eras in the PSG history, the difference is this time it feels as if they are making smart investments.

Let us see how much more PSG have to do when it comes to transfers. I would like to see Matuidi as well as another creative presence, maybe his St Ettienne teammate Payet?

2 comments:

JLP said...

I am also quite excited by the fact that the Qatari group is reaching back to old icons of the club to revamp the leadership.
I've read they flew Leonardo to Qatar for example. I would love to see Rai more involved as well. He supposedly has been playing a recruiting role in Brazil the past few years but witnessing the most recent Brazilian flops who surfaced in Paris, I sure hope he had no say in that.

The recruitment staff (i.e. Alain Roche) has generally done an embarrassing job in the past few years. If it wasn't for Paris being Paris, I doubt we would get half the players we have on the team based on Roche's vision. He needs to go. Makelele is said to be the next in line to replace him. With his network, it would be great.

Newcastle is interested in Mevlut. I hope he stays. He hasn't scored much this year but he's fast, physical, and fights.

Douchez is a great choice. Experienced, albeit, not at the European level. We all know what Gameiro is capable of doing.

Now we need a youth player to explode next year.

I'm psyched!

GFC said...

I have heard a rumor that Luis Fernandez has been contacted as well to potentially come back and manage PSG, that would be interesting.