He is one of the surprise recruits of Paris Saint-Germain’s last summer transfer window. At only 19 years old, Cher Ndour chose to leave Benfica, where he won a Youth League, to give in to the sirens of the Rouge et Bleu. To the great dismay of the president of Aguias, Rui Costa. “We negotiated a lot, it was about to be renewed, he understood that the future did not lie with Benfica and PSG appeared. We really wanted him to stay, but I can’t force him to stay at Benfica. Often players have less patience because today there are a lot more offers and I respect that. They think more about the immediate and less about the future..
Presented as a very promising midfielder, the Italian international hopeful (2 caps) was synonymous with a good move since he arrived in Paris free of any contract. At a time when PSG wanted to carry out a major sweep to make room for new talents, Ndour stuck to the new Ile-de-France project. But since then, the former Benfiquista has had to settle for matches with the Italian Espoir selection to get playing time. Luis Enrique only used him once in Ligue 1. It was against Olympique Lyonnais and the player only played 5 minutes. This may be surprising, even if having significant playing time in the first team is not given to all 19-year-olds. What is most striking is PSG’s choice to do without its summer recruit in the European Cup even though it has registered four goalkeepers (Donnarumma, Navas, Letellier, Tenas).
Deprived of C1, not eligible for the Youth League
Not included in the list of players selected to play in the Champions League, Ndour cannot appear on list B either. “A player may be included on List B if he was born on or after 1 January 2002 and if, since his fifteenth birthday, he has been qualified to play for the club concerned for an uninterrupted period of at least two years, or for a total of three consecutive years interrupted only once by a loan to a club of the same association for a maximum of one year. Players aged 16 can be registered on List B if they have been registered with the participating club for the previous two years without interruption.explains article 45.11 of the UEFA regulations.
A surprising situation which therefore forces Ndour to concentrate solely on his chances of possibly getting minutes in Ligue 1 and later in the Coupe de France. Because the Italian’s other concern is that he cannot play in the Youth League either (PSG plays today at 4 p.m. against BVB). Absent from the list submitted by PSG to UEFA, Ndour does not respect article 36.04 of the competition regulations stipulating that only players born on January 1, 2005 or later are eligible. Born July 27, 2004, Cher Ndour is out of the game.
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