 So, Paris Saint-Germain only won the UEFA Champions League because they ‘ditched the Galáctico approach.’ You’ll have read similar soundbites from so-called professional writers leading up to last Saturday’s final and, certainly, since then. I get that there has been a change of approach at PSG in terms of developing players – often young and inexperienced prospects – rather than buying ‘finished products.’ However, it also smacks of lazy journalism to me, where reporters have jumped on the social media bandwagon in order to try and make their trumpet solos heard. It may be that incoming manager Luis Enrique favoured a new approach which worked out for him pretty much straightaway, but to simply suggest that taking superstar influence out of the dressing room and off the field of play was enough to assure instant success is infantile. Those same infants are now salivating about ‘big money deals’ in the transfer window. I know. I know. It’s all about eyeballs rather than insights these days, isn’t it? For too many of today’s football ‘experts’ in texting and typing, football only began in 1992 when Sky started to pour money and commercial know-how into the sport. Back to the game, what if PSG had failed in the final again? What would the writers have said then: where were the superstars with the skills and experience who could have changed the game? Admittedly, the ‘right blend of experience and youth’ so beloved of those without an ounce of original thought, might have been thrown in the bin by PSG’s Qatari owners who haven’t often had to do their own cooking. But you still need special ingredients in any recipe for success. Paris Saint-Germain didn’t do so badly in their previous Champions League final in 2020 against the serial killers of hope, Bayern Munich. A team including Mbappé and Neymar lost by a single goal from one of their former players (Kingsley Coman) having beaten RB Leipzig in the semis (who had beaten Atlético Madrid who had beaten Liverpool). Indeed, the origins of the Galáctico policy date go back to the 1950s when Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu signed star players for huge fees. Those players delivered the club’s finest era, winning twelve La Liga championships and six European Cups. He was so successful that they named a ground after him. Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskás would have been football superstars in any era and any team would have been enhanced by their presence. I understand that big-name players can bring big-name egos, which can blunt the hunger of and deny opportunities to young, emerging talents. I also deplore those clubs who have simply tried to buy instant success (with managers as well as players) and haven’t the patience to build from the ground up. The Football Association may also be guilty of this… let’s see how it plays out. But isn’t it a bit insulting to Luis Enrique that his supposed political demands at the club have been highlighted rather more than his people management on the pitch, not just in terms of young unknowns such as Désiré Doué, but also those players who had temporarily lost their way such as Ousmane Dembélé who had underperformed at Barcelona and not yet worked out how to go forward at PSG? I haven’t read much about that. Football history tells us that PSG were only formed in 1970, following the merger of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain, yet Enrique’s coaching, tactical prowess and encouragement of his charges to ‘play without fear’ has now enabled them to beat some of the finest and oldest clubs in Europe – including England’s Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal. And, in achieving his second domestic ‘treble’ as a coach, after his success, ironically, in Barcelona before personal tragedy intervened, he has already moulded a team of superstars in the making, which – with the possible exception of Barcelona – could dominate European football for years to come. For now, let’s admire the coach - and the club for going along with his vision – and have some proper coverage and appreciation of his body of work, not just copycat headlines or competitive search phrases.
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