In 2021, Paris Saint-Germain signed a very flashy summer transfer window with Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi and Georginio Wijnaldum. 5 star recruits who had cost “only” €60 million (the price of Hakimi’s transfer), four of them having arrived free of any contract. A sexy recruitment campaign which was nevertheless quickly criticized, even mocked given the performance of the players concerned.
Two years later, the recruitment campaign cost Paris much more (a little more than €320 million), but this time, the red and blue squad seem better armed, collectively speaking. And if the Ile-de-France residents were able to achieve this high-flying transfer window on paper (Skriniar, Asensio, Hernandez, Dembélé, Kolo Muani, Ugarte, Lee, Simons, Barcola, Ramos), it is largely thanks to the influence of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
Kolo Muani, a case settled between heaven and earth
Often criticized for being a multi-hat president incapable of being available full-time to best manage the capital club, NAK still has a huge advantage for PSG: his address book and a recognized influence in the football world. . The Parisian also explains that the Qatari helped unblock many files this summer. Starting with the transfer of Randal Kolo Muani.
Eintracht Frankfurt was uncompromising and resisting the Parisian assaults when NAK took out his phone to contact his German counterpart and seal the deal in the sky, aboard a private jet, then in a restaurant in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. A paid pressing which allowed PSG to barely send the necessary documents to the LFP, at 10:59 p.m. The transfer of RKM could therefore have failed within two minutes.
NAK whistled the end for Neymar
Well before that, Al-Khelaïfi had put pressure on Chelsea when the Blues hoped to overtake the Parisians in the Ugarte file by buying shares in Sporting Portugal in addition to the player. At a time when multi-owner clubs have become a hot topic, NAK has threatened Chelsea with reprisals if this process goes to completion. It worked, the Londoners withdrew. Still in the arrivals section, the daily explains that it was also NAK who called Xavi Simons several times to convince the young Dutch talent to return to PSG after his successful year at PSV (he was then loaned without a purchase option to RB Leipzig).
Finally, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi also played an important role in terms of departures. While some say it was Neymar who requested his departure from PSG, The Parisian assures that it was NAK who announced the end of the Parisian adventure to the Brazilian, then to his agent Pini Zahavi. Who is telling the truth? No one will know, but the fact remains that NAK emerges stronger from this 2023 summer transfer window. It now remains to be seen whether this trend will also be confirmed in the most anticipated case: the Mbappé case. Paris is still pushing to extend its crack, but the Bondynois leaves the mystery hanging.
