Now that the PSG titanic Champions League vessel has hit the rocks and is sinking fast, the exodus has already been set off – be it in terms of the powers that be hitting the reset button for a totally new scenario or the players and other key members themselves deciding it’s better to abandon ship.
The Parc des Princes club are set to undergo sweeping changes both on and off the pitch in the wake of their humbling Champions League capitulation against an in-form Real Madrid, led by a diabolical Karim Benzema swooping in like an incendiary bat from hell blasting his hat-trick and blitzing the Parisians. The fiery inferno in the aftermatch has left scorched fans fuming, looking for avenues to vent their fury.
Primary among those alleged to lead the high-profile exits from Paris Saint-Germain this summer in wholesale changes are Mauricio Pochettino and Kylian Mbappe, with the latter being almost a for-sure after-thought after the evisceration of the Parisian capital club who had been left stunned and speechless as their elimination from the Champions League on Wednesday night. The Parisians folded suddenly like a pack of cards against the Los Blancos at the Bernabeu with an unexpected late collapse in the game that whizzed past in a flash.
Karim Benzema’s rapid fire second half hat-trick immediately turned the tie in the hosts’ favour with their comeback described post-match by Carlo Ancelloti as “magic”.
And magic indeed it was as PSG again experienced another painful failing in Europe’s premier club competition, being forced again to wait indefinitely to have their first taste of success in the competition despite securing their major Qatar-backed takeover in 2011. The frustration was indeed telling as the irate and incensed fans turned displayed their fury on Sunday in the Ligue 1 match against Bordeaux when they openly without restraint whistled at and booed Lionel Messi and Neymar at every touch of the ball by the duo in the first match since the loss to Real Madrid.
A day prior to that, PSG ultras had called on president Nasser Al-Khelaifi to resign in the wake of the latest European humbling for the Parisians. The ultras demanded meaningful change in the club’s board of directors, a month after their major show of protest at a Ligue 1 clash in which they lambasted the ‘overpaid mercenaries’ on their books in their attack on the board.
Al-Khelaifi had stepped in as the new president and CEO of PSG in October 2011 but had not been able to oversee the club finding success in their elusive Champions League endeavors, despite garnering a multitude of domestic trophies since he took over at the helm.
It now seems that the club president is set to be among those leaving their roles in a massive shake-up of the club, according to French journalist Romain Molina on Spanish radio station Cadena Ser . Star striker Mbappe looks set to lead a huge exodus from the first-team squad as he will be out of contract at the club this summer and will leave as a free agent, and all reports strongly link him with a now seemingly unavoidable switch to Real Madrid after personally witnessing the collapse of the team despite him more than adequately exonerating himself. The exodus reportedly includes up to nine players.
The L’Equipe report suggests that Sergio Ramos, Leandro Paredes, Idrissa Gueye, Thilo Kehrer, Layvin Kurzawa, Julian Draxler and Ander Herrera were among the others who could be moved on this summer.
On top of that, Mauricio Pochettino’s position is seen to be flaky now due to the underwhelming performance in the recent Champions League debacle and in the domestic Ligue 1 generally although still staying way ahead on points.
Sporting director Leonardo, who has had it cushy all this while is also set to exit his post as he is the key person accountable for assembling the current squad that had looked like a fail-proof blueprint for success on paper.
Fan loyalty has always been invariably fickle and can turn hostile and even vicious at any moment according to the whims and fancies of the hooded hordes. One never knows how the pendulum swings with the incensed hordes baying for blood.
And many a fallen hero, even the mightiest of giants, in the capricious world of football can attest to that.