Arguably the best in the history of the game, the summer transfer window that recently concluded saw both football’s own Marvel League colossal superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo move clubs – with the former’s a histrionic one leaving the entire football world shell-shocked with disbelief, no less.
At a time when most clubs were still reeling from the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that wreaked total havoc not only on human lives in every corner of the world but also on the finances of all football clubs big and small, the likes of Arsenal, the Manchester clubs, Chelsea and, most significantly of all, Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain, flexed their financial muscles. The undisputed winners at the transfer window sweepstakes, the Parc des Princes colossus staked their claim for the greatest asset-cum-prize prize in modern football, Lionel Messi from Barcelona for absolutely nothing except a ginormous wage package plus bonuses to boot.
Oh yes, and they also snapped up a few more shimmering gems like Georginio Wijnaldum and Sergio Ramos – again with no exorbitant transfer fees to pay off, with a few more swanky additions like Inter’s Achraf Hakimi, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Nuno Mendes thrown into the bargain, to the envy of all other clubs on the continent.
Following this gluttonous indulgence at the transfer table – which they can obviously afford and yet not feel the pinch – PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino can now focus full attention on setting up one of the best teams ever in the game’s celebrated history. He had better or, to put it a tad crudely, his ass is grass sooner than he can bat an eyelid. The former Totttenham Hotspurs boss will now be either confidently rubbing his palms with sadistic glee or sweating profusely under severe pressure, not to mention the hawk-eyed scrutiny of the entire football universe, to deliver the elusive Champions League trophy his owners have been shamelessly coveting and lusting for all this while.
With ‘other-worldly’ Messi beaming with broad smiles on his boyish face again, finally reunited with his former Barcelona strike partner in football mayhem, Neymar, and the dynamic duo now forming the most fearsome triumvirate ever – the MNM – with Mbappe at Parc des Princes, here’s how the strongest Paris Saint-Germain XI lining up in a 4-3-3 formation could look like when every player in the team attains full fitness and free from injuries.
Strongest PSG Lineup (4-3-3)
Goalkeeper
Keylor Navas began Paris Saint-Germain’s Ligue 1 season as Pochettino’s first-choice goalkeeper, having played four league games so far, conceding five goals and keeping one clean sheet in the process. Limbering up in the wings, though, is one of the club’s hottest summer recruits, Gianluigi Donnarumma, who is slated to take over the No.1 reins between the sticks.
Donnarumma, 22, rated as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe, helped Italy to the Euro 2020 Championship title in July. Already credited with over 250 appearances in club football at such a tender age, he is certainly the most ideal candidate to make the goalkeeper position at PSG his own for the major part of the next decade.
Defense
This is the area where possibly Pochettino’s most up-front selection will be most judiciously made. Another summer signing, this time from Inter Milan, Achraf Hakimi, has already hit the ground running in splendor at his new club with a goal and two assists in four Ligue 1 outings so far. The Moroccan international, an attacking full-back most exciting to watch, should start at right-back in the new PSG lineup.
PSF’s final acquisition headlining the transfer window’s Deadline Day, Nuno Mendes from Sporting Lisbon, is expected to walk straight into Pochettino’s elite XI at left-back, replacing Abdou Diallo. Juan Bernat, although having resumed team training after a serious knee injury sustained back in September 2020, is expected to require some time to regain full fitness.
At centre-back, Marquinhos is again the unchallenged starter in the PSG lineup pairing up this time with either Thilo Kehrer or Presnel Kimpembe so far since the new season kicked off. Summer’s other unexpected signing, Sergio Ramos, unquestionably one of the best and most feared defenders of this generation, has finally exited a rough 2021 plagued by injuries but is optimistically poised to make his scintillating debut for PSG this month. Once fully fit, Ramos will be Marquinhos’ preferred partner in central defense.
Midfield
Now we come to the crux where the navigation gets a bit tricky for Pochettino, who is blessed with a whole potpourri of exciting options in the middle of the park. PSG are infinitely blessed to have good cover in defensive midfield in Danilo and Idrissa Gueye, and due to the latter’s mobility and energy, he could most likely hold down the position in front of the backline.
Marco Verratti is a no-brainer guaranteed fixture in this PSG lineup, regardless, purely because of his crisp passing, smart movement and incredible work rate done for the club since he joined as a teenager from Italian side, Pescara. Wrapping up the midfield formation would of course be another mouth-watering free transfer, the former Liverpool dynamo Georginio Wijnaldum, renowned for his tireless work rate off the ball, intense pressing and innate ability to make well-timed box-to-box runs with the grace of a gazelle in flight.
A most delectably appetizing midfield trio of Gueye, Wijnaldum and Verratti looks to be the most well-balanced offering.
Attack
As the orchestral timpanis rise to a climactic crescendo, the crucial frontline is where Pochettino has the full rainbow spectrum of the most enviable options going forward, and the millennial blockbuster signing of the GOAT, Lionel Messi, trumpets the dawning of a new era for the Parc des Princes. The Argentinean international and former Barcelona talisman-cum-skipper, who made his PSG debut last weekend coming as a substitute against Reims, should slot most comfortably into the right of their attack in the new, eclectic PSG lineup.
Neymar will be only too eager to continue the telepathic understanding and savor once again the intoxicating flavors of phenomenal success he enjoyed with his compadre Messi during their butt-kicking time at Barcelona which they hope to replicate with even greater success once again. It’s also probably a divne act of providence that Mbappe’s transfer to Real Madrid failed to materialize because the Parisian club disdainfully declined the La Liga club’s final offer worth €200 million on deadline day.
The World Cup winner is in the final 10 months of his contract at Parc des Princes and is still disinclined towards signing a mouth-watering contract extension, which then leaves his long-cherished desire to move to Real Madrid to play out next summer on his Bosman status, but for now Mbappe is enjoying star billing with the other two members of the MNM and bronco-busting the new PSN frontline tornado to terrorize and nullify the defenses of the opposition as they lead PSG’s attack in their strongest lineup this season.
Angel di Maria surely wouldn’t mind having the occasional time-out in the above formation as he is most likely to get ample game-time over the course of a long season, besides the likelihood of Pochettino tweaking his formation now and then to accommodate the likes of di Maria and other equally deserving players like Leandro Paredes.
Voila, Ici c’est Paris!