Luis Campos looks back on PSG’s failed winter transfer window

Zero recruits: this is the sad record of Paris Saint-Germain during the last transfer window in January. A detrimental absence of reinforcements when we know the capital club’s objectives for the second half of the season, combined with an attacking sector reduced by the departure of Pablo Sarabia to Wolverhampton, leaving only five potential attackers / attacking midfielders (Messi, Neymar , Mbappé, Ekitike, Soler), not to mention the young people from the training center. Four for the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League against Bayern Munich, if we take into account Kylian Mbappé’s injury.

However, it is not for lack of having tried in recent weeks to expand the workforce of Christophe Galtier for the next six months: indeed, the Parisian board had managed to complete the signing, this summer, of central defender Milan Skriniar . An arrival confirmed by the main interested party in an interview at the end of January. However, discussions with Inter Milan to recruit him this winter ultimately did not follow through, leaving the Slovak in Lombardy until the end of the season.

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“Ziyesh? We did everything, but…”

Even before having managed to find a way out for Keylor Navas (Nottingham Forest), making Ander Herrera’s departure to Bilbao final, PSG sporting director Luis Campos had confided his policy of “recruiting smartly” and getting rid of undesirables, especially last summer, to strengthen the current Ligue 1 leader: “We tried to be creative, with the financial constraints we have, he said in an interview with Téléfoot. We made a good plan, which involves reducing the number of players in the squad, to make room for young people, and not lose them to other big European clubs.

Another important objective for this winter transfer window: to recruit a left-handed right winger who can enter the axis. And after the failures of Malcom (Zenit), Rayan Cherki (Olympique Lyonnais) or even Johan Bakayoko (PSV Eindhoven), Paris Saint-Germain was not far from securing the services of Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea) in the form of a loan, before the Blues derailed his departure to France. “We did everything continued the Portuguese leader. But as with all transfers, all three parties have to work well. It worked with PSG, with Ziyech, but unfortunately, at the last moment, not with Chelsea…” Enough to force Christophe Galtier to seek the Holy Grail, the C1, with the same team as when he arrived last summer…