Matvey Safonov was one of the surprise signings of the 2024/2025 season for Paris Saint-Germain. Arriving from Krasnodar, the Russian was recruited to be Gianluigi Donnarumma’s understudy. Which surprised more than one since no one imagined PSG going to get a player in Russia and paying €20 million for it. Since then, Safonov has integrated himself into the Parisian squad, but he admitted during an interview with the podcast Smol Talk by Fedor Smolov, that his beginnings in the French capital were complicated.
“For the first three months, people were avoiding me: ‘Who did we buy?’ Obviously, I’m exaggerating. But I think it took me a little longer than I expected. Three months before we even started showing anything. Now I have adapted to football on a psychological level: I am comfortable, I understand my abilities and I no longer feel additional pressure. Because there was, especially when things didn’t go as planned. Everything happened very quickly in my life! And now I realize that there are players on the team so talented that I’m relegated to the background. But in the Premier League (the Russian championship, editor’s note), I was one of these talented players! We have to understand that we now have to work a little harder to at least reach the level of the PSG players”he confided.
