Re: PSG Transfer Thread According to Le Parisien, Colony Capital will inject more money for PSG to replace Pauleta and Yepes. It seems like PSG will sign 2 big players (France international A level) and an asian player well known in his own country (japanese or chinese). PSG are also thinking about planning a tour in Canada or Asia. It's a good thing for PSG to explore new markets in Asia. Metz has agreements with asian clubs for young players exchange especially with Korea and China (Kang Jin-uk, Ou Kyung-jun - both korean). Lyon took part of the Peace Cup several times and even have a fan base in Korea. They will build an academy in Vietnam...Le Mans signed Matsui which allowed them to sell their TV rights in Japon and Matsui's jersey is the most selled Jersey of Le Mans. PSG are late, but Colony Capital seems to have a good marketing plan.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread This isnt really a big deal. Those are the 2 highest salaries on the team so its only logical to bring in players to replace them who are internationals rather than young players. Its not like the budget is going up significantly or anything. Capital Colony are still a joke.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread So, we're replacing a striker and central defender and at least one will be a French International? CB - Escude, Givet, Thuram ? I can't even think of a striker who would be available. Menez perhaps?
Re: PSG Transfer Thread No offense to you all, but Ménez is being courted by Inter, as well as some other "big" clubs, so I doubt that a player of his calibre is coming. However, I don't see why Thuram wouldn't, as I actually think it'd be a good idea for him to tutor Mamadou Sakho, whom many, including myself, believe has the ability to be one of the best defenders we have coming up, if not another Thuram.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Yeah, I don't think Menez would come to Paris. I was just trying to think of any French A-teamer that might be possible and he was as close as it got. I would love to see Thuram and Makalele come in to tutor the young guys, but I doubt we'll see it based on PSG's dedication to youth.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread I agree, though you all actually deserve a lot of credit for the academy as it's been steadily rising up the rankings. I mean Sakho, Sankharé, Mulumbu, Ngoyi, N'Gog, Chantôme, and Arnaud are all capable of being L1 starter quality if not more (Sakho especially, and Sankharé as well), which definitely beats the days when there was no one of quality coming out. Though I don't think Cayzac has done a good job overall, I do think Le Guen is correct if he is concentrating on the academy. Even the best academy guys on other clubs are from the Parisian area (Ben Arfa, Bellaïd).
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Well, as you know i'm not much into this youth culture. Since they are playing with us, PSG have his worse results. We are fighting to stay in L1. Average players can't help us to reach the top. Honestly I don't want Givet because he isn't doing well with Marseille. Thuram is a symbol but he is too old. If PSG have to pay a high salary for an old player we better keep Yepes than trying to sign Thuram. By the way, I meant a player as good as a french international. This could be a foreigner. Personally, I would like PSG to sign Hilton (Lens) as CB. As a striker...we all know that Le Guen is in love with Elmander...We'll see. How about Wagner Love ? Butler has no longer huge reponsabilities in PSG. He was the one who wanted PSG to have this youth culture. Colony Capital is more into big players. I hope this is not only cock-tease to avoid fans anger if PSG lose against Marseille.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Nicolas, I very much consider your views in high esteem, but I don't get why you don't believe in improving through the academy. Even L'OL were built arguably by their centre de formation. Yes, they made a couple of purchases, here and there, though take a look at the team now. Benzema, Ben Arfa, Govou, Clerc were all products of their centre de formation, and they get credit on guys like Kanouté, as well as Rémy Riou. I am not saying the entire team should be built from the academy, but I think (only my opinion, again) to be very successful in Ligue 1, a team has to develop its own players, then make astute signings to attempt to complement them. A team of mercenaries doesn't win often (ask the OM faithful ).
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Especially since it's getting harder to keep the good players in Ligue 1. Even after you develop them, most players are going to leave France to go abroad in search of a larger salary.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread BTW, I really like the idea of PSG playing in Canada. It makes a lot of sense to play a pre season friendly(s) in Montreal and Toronto.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread I have no problem with our academy but I have no faith in the players out of our academy lately (Sankhare, N'gog, Chantôme, Ngoyi, Arnaud, Sakho). I regard N'gog and Chantôme as the most skilled players out of these 6. I often read on french boards that we'll have to wait 2 years for them to fit PSG as Benzema et Ben Arfa with Lyon. I'm thinking that's it's a little bit easy to say that we've to wait two years because even though Benzema and Ben Arfa weren't starters with Lyon at first, they shown up some good things during the few playing time they had. N'gog made a few good matches but I don't see anything in him reminding me of Benzema. N'gog will be a good forward for minor L1 teams. I don't think he is PSG material. I hope I'm wrong. Plus, if we had to wait two years there will be only strikers as good as Benzema in Ligue 1 since every single players have their "young player" period. Chantôme was good on January and so bad on February. To be honest he was a ghost. I think it's good sometimes to have 1 or 2 players out of our academy but not suddenly 5 or 6 players. It's insane especially because some of them played many games for PSG. In the past, some players from our academy were introduced to us like fantastics players. I'm thinking about Benachour and Haddad right now. Benachour is playing in Kuweit and Haddad for Maccabi Tel Aviv. Our young players are overrated. What happened with Chiguy Lucau, Mulumbu, Rocchi, Badiane ? they are all playing in L2. Of course there were some succes like Cana, Anelka or Jerome Leroy. I don't think PSG and Lyon can be compared. First of all, because Lyon have good results therefore it's easier for them to wait for these players to grow up and gain in maturity. Even Lyon have players who failed. Everyone forgots about Viale and Bergougnoux. By the way, If PSG sign big players (like rothen, pauleta...) it will help the club to have a better standing in the league. Therefore PSG will have much more money from TV, from public attendance, from merchandising. If PSG sign a famous player, we'll sell a lot of jersey with his name printed on the back. More people will buy the PSG "products". If PSG reach the champions league, it's even more money for the club. PSG is the only one club in France losing money (19 million euros) and that's because of our standing in the league. Since we are ranked low we'll receive less money than if we ended up closer of Lyon. For example, Lyon had 45 million Euros from LFP thanks to their title in 2007. To me that's a winning system. If you do not inject money in the club, you can sign only average players therefore you lose money because you can't manage to have good results. To earn money in football, Colony Capital will have to spend money. It seems like they understood this. I'm really glad about it and about their plan for Asia. I don't mean that's a rule but I think as long as money is used to buy good players it'll help the club. By the way, I think there is only mercenaries in football nowadays expect Rothen whom I admire because he fought to succes with PSG and he refused contracts with EPL teams and Lyon. It's sad but football is a reflect of our society. Heinze was unknow before to sign with PSG (ex-valladoid), the fans really appreciated him. He was one of our "chouchou". He tried to leave PSG when Barcelona wanted to sign him and it was the same when Chelsea and Manchester were interested in him. He was clear, he said that he had to take care of his family. It was obviously for money reasons that he left PSG. He is a mercenary but I still like him. As long as they play well, every mercenary is welcome to PSG I miss the 90's and early 2000's when PSG had a great squad and when our transfer windows were really entertaining. I miss the time when we wanted to be champion. I assume that I'm tired of Lyon winning every single championship. I don't want Aulas to help PSG, I want Colony Capital to help us. I want to believe in PSG come back, I don't want this club to die even though I'll support it even in DHR.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread I will be the first to admit that I, as well as a lot of others, were very wrong about Haddad, who looked to have the technique and skills to be a terrific player, though in the end, not the mentality. Benachour I didn't consider to be good at all, and I'd argue I've always thought Bergougnoux to be mediocre, tho definitely not bad. With this PSG crop, though, it's a lot different. Of course, we will only know in a few years whether it is or not, though take a look at the mentality of the players. Sakho is built like Thuram in terms of both physique and mentality (captaining all the U-x sides). I think that Sankharé wasn't known to very many outside the PSG, but he's been working hard in order for him now to be a contributor on a quality U-19 side (with Obertan, Taarabt, Zola, Schwechlen, N'Gog, Schneiderlin). It's the same with the others. I don't deny that N'Gog was overrated by some PSG fans I know a while back, though I think you are underrating the ability of this group. I know it was only preseason, though did you watch how they did in the Emirates cup? Even Wenger was impressed at how they played, and it was all academy guys. And hey, I'm not the one who noted that PSG is in catégorie 1 among the academies.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Anyone wanna speculate who this "Asian star" will be ? If its Matsui from Le Mans that would be good but it wont get the fans excited. If its Nakamura from Celtic I think the fans would be excited but he would be 30 years old at the start of next season so thats a bit of a negative. I dont see why he wouldnt make the jump to a team like PSG at this stage in his career but he might be holding out until he gets an offer from a Premiership team. There arent really that many good, well known Asians out there that fans would be excited about.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Who is it ? I saw both games (Arsenal, Valencia) but I don't really consider preseason games relevant. Yes i agree. Nakamura and Park Ji-sung would be the most exciting players. I don't think Le Guen will accept a player joining PSG only for us to sell jerseys. Park might be expensive but his signing would be profitable for the club first of all because he is a good player. He proved it during the CL while he was playing for PSV. No matter how huge is his salary it's nothing compared to the popularity, money we'll get from merchandising in South Korea after signing him. His jersey would be the most sold one, PSG would be broadcasted in Korea and maybe Asia. However, I'm considering that Rothen is better than Park. He would play on the right side and Souza would replace Chantôme next to Clément. It sounds good. There is some korean players in EPL. Lee Dong-gook is a striker but he is failing to hack it with Middlesbrough and he blamed the pressure therefore I think he won't hack it with PSG because the pressure is a way higher here than in Boro. He failed in Germany as well. Seol Ki-hyeon is a bench warmer for Fulham, I don't think he would make it with PSG as well. He can play as striker and as a right wing by the way. Lee Young-pyo is getting old and I'm considering that Armand is better than him. Armand + Rothen, that's a good left side. Recently, Seongnam's Kim Do-Heon signed for West Bromwich Albion. I don't think he is PSG material. He used to play with 2 defensive midfielders behind him for him to don't defend. In my opinion he doesn't suit the 4-3-3 we used or our current 4-4-2. Plus, he is just not good enough for PSG even the former Korean national team coach blamed his position. I quote Pim Verbeek "Kim Do-heon was terrible" There is also Lee Chun-soo at Feyenoord. He is a deep lying forward who used to play on the right wing in a 4-2-3-1 scheme with the korean national team. He is a big mouthed player and his behavior is not good. He left the dutch team for Korea during 2 weeks lately while media reported some strange stories in some bars. He thought about coming back to Korea when he saw that Pohang was champion because he was disappointed to sign with a dutch team and not in EPL. He would be our Korean ronaldinho in terms of behavior. Matsui is not really popular in Japan so if it's really a well known asian player in his own country it can't be him. Matsui is well known for his lack of regularity... By the way, I assume that I know korean players a way better than japanese or chinese ones. I hope it won't be another Ahn Jung-Hwan who had his best game against PSG, Seo Jung-Won whom Le Roy left out of the strasbourg team, Nakata (OM) or Hiroyama that Nicollin signed only to sell jerseys in Japan. I hope it'll be a good player and not only a jersey seller.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Pauleta will not be offered a contract extension, correct ? I did read that they could offer an extention to Yepes.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread PSG won't extend Pauleta's contract. First of all because Pauleta is tired of his situation at PSG. He spoke about it 2 weeks ago. He said that he expects may and his agent complained about the fact he is always on the bench. Pauleta seems tired therefore he is not even sure about signing a one year deal with a portuguese club. Perhaps, he will retire by the end of the season. He is lacking of confidence and we all know that a striker needs confidence. He is feeling useless and he thinks that some people do not want him in the club any longer. It reminds me of Yepes' situation. Colony Capital and Cayzac are only thinking about the economic aspect and not about the sportive one. Yepes wasn't playing because they wanted to force him to leave PSG and that's the same Pauleta. It seems stupid, but that's the reality. Some journalists questioned Cayzac about Yepes. According to him super mario will be released on june and PSG will be free... He really doesn't deserve his nickname which is "bisounours" (Care bear). He is such a big lier. From what I know care bears don't lie. Cayzac promised us that PSG will sign an international striker from one of the best soccer nations to replace Pauleta but I'm pretty sure that we'll be disappointed. Luyindula is international as well. I hope it won't be a briand or Luyindula-like.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Well, Briand is better though than Luyindula. Though I definitely understand the anger against Cayzac. He hasn't done anything good this season except give a decent impression of a cheapskate owner. Really, though, to be fair, I wouldn't resign Pauleta either, though I would try to sign a striker and better right-sided guys (I don't think either Souza or Ceará are adequate).
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Even Rennes fans are blaming Briand's performances. He misses a lot of scoring chances. I don't mean that Luyindula is better than him but to me they both don't deserve to receive any call up from Domenech. Cayzac hasn't done anything good since he's president. He did nothing else but soil PSG name. Two years to destroy a club. It's a pretty good job. Canal + made a mistake by selling PSG to Colony Capital which consider PSG only as a club with "real estate assets". It's written on this firm's official website. The championship will lost interest with PSG in L2. Since Colony Capital acquired PSG we signed only 2 good players. Camara is a good center-back and Clement is quite interesting. Plus, Rothen and Armand were about to leave during the past summer. Armand said a few month ago that he was really close to sign with Lyon. To be fair, Lacombe did a pretty good job at destroying PSG as well. Dodo fired, Rothen with the reserve team. Kalou on the left side, Yepes on the bench... I'm tired of PSG to sign suckers like Bourillon, Everton reserve team santos, Banning...Cayzac admitted that he is the one who wanted to sign banning one year ago. Houllier said that there are 100 players like him in L1 and Cayzac signed him...Everton Santos + Souza = 7.5 million euros. It's as expensive as Krasic...Maybe it's easier for some agents and Cayzac himself to get pocket money with 2 moves than with only 1 move. When journalists questioned Le Guen about Angulo he answered that he needs a player who can be in shape and quickly adapted to L1. That's why we signed 2 brazilian players. Souza seems to be perfectly adapted to L1 though... Maybe I was too kind with Souza. He hasn't shown up anything yet except against Le Mans reserve team. Summer 2007 - Cayzac : "I have a plan for PSG to be champion 4 years later." PSG aim to be L2 champion. I got it.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread interesting facts in the gazette for last week about the 2000 minute men... where you see clement has played all but FIVE MINUTES for PSG this year ... but camara hasn't missed a single one. like pedretti, glad to see him getting some props finally. http://www.cahiersdufootball.net/article.php?id=2719
Re: PSG Transfer Thread I agree 100% on that. And I commend you on a good, albeit frustrating, post as I think it's exactly what I imagine my cousins in the capital are going through. I don't think PSG will go down to L2, but to call this season anything other than catastrophically disappointing wouldn't be correct. Though hey, there's the Coupe de la Ligue against Lens.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread Should have signed Fred and Gouffran. They have to get Gourcuff somehow. How did they go Fred to Briand ? Thats terrible. Why not bring in Moieria or Pagis while they're at it. lol
Re: PSG Transfer Thread It would seem that Le Guen needs more say in tranfers. I've heard Madrid is going to sell Diarra this summer. He'd be a good pick-up and L1 experienced. Perhaps Fred will change his mind and leave Lyon this summer as well.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread They are gonna have to open up their wallets if they want those guys. That means they ain't comin'.
Re: PSG Transfer Thread There is an article in France Football about Souza and Everton. Roche finally admitted that they weren't our first option and scouted 50th times meant we viewed 15 videos. Unlike Cayzac sayings. I quote Roche : My thoughts : He saw Everton 1 year ago. How come we signed a player that they haven't seen during a whole year ? Regarding the fact he had a long injury it's even more ridiculus. Lyon's mistake about Delgado doesn't make their mistakes any better.That's pretty childish. PSG were in need of a player able to help the team to remain in L1 but he is stupid enough to say that they knew Souza needs time. Frankly speaking, this is pathetic but not surprising. PSG have to get ride of Cayzac, Roche and Pecout. I'm really tired of their incompetence. Pick up someone walking down the street, it would be better than them. Cayzac is the worse of them. He can't help lying, he is a bad communicant. When Diouf and Antonetti runned their mouth who answered them ? Pauleta and Rothen of course. Martel said a bunch of lies during the past two weeks; how come he didn't used the French media to correct it ? Le Guen did not want those 2 Brazilians but he signed them for his self pride. BTW, it seems like Roche will leave PSG by the end of the season. It's hard to be happy with such incompetents.