Two days before the start of the 2023-2024 season against Lorient, doubt hangs over the starting 11 that Paris Saint-Germain will line up. On Wednesday August 9, the capital club’s sports management – coach Luis Enrique and sports adviser Luis Campos – let several players know that they were not counting on them for the coming season, RMC Sport reported and The Team.
Among them: young striker Hugo Ekitike, defender Juan Bernat, and two stars of the blue and red locker room, Brazilian Neymar and Italian Marco Verratti. According to RMC Sport, midfielder Renato Sanches has also been informed that he could find a new base.
But it is indeed the announcements concerning the star striker of Brazil and the Italian midfielder that hold the attention. They were not invited for the official photo session for the Professional Football League (LFP). Kylian Mbappé, who started a standoff with the management of PSG, did not participate either. The entourages of these two players have also confirmed the information to the Parisian.
The departure of Marco Verratti (second most capped player in the history of PSG) and Neymar (4th top scorer in the history of the club) would mark a real change of era for the Parisian club. A possible application of the remarks made by club president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, in June 2022, in the columns of Le Parisien: “we no longer want flashy, bling-bling, it’s the end of glitter. We’ve done great things for eleven years, but every year you have to ask yourself how to improve, how to be better.”
As soon as the information was revealed, the Saudi club Al-Hilal positioned itself to welcome the two players, reports RMC Sport. The Italian Marco Verratti has already been talking for several weeks with the club and has even already agreed on a contract. The transaction would only block the amount of the transfer to release the midfielder from his contract with PSG – he is engaged until June 2026.
Are Paris Saint-Germain heading for a ‘new look’ team for the start of the 2023-2024 season, Saturday against Lorient? Without Messi (left for Inter Miami) and possibly without Mbappé, Neymar and Verratti, fans will however be able to see the new Parisian recruit: the Portuguese Gonçalo Ramos, from the Benfica club. The closing of the transfer window (the period during which clubs can formalize the departures and arrivals of players) is fixed on the night of August 31 to September 1, at midnight.
