Paris Saint-Germain won’t necessarily opt for the transfer of AC Milan star Rafael Leao this summer if they lose Kylian Mbappe and need a replacement for their talisman.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest column in the Daily Briefing, French football expert Jonathan Johnson explained that that Mbappe’s future is still not decided and there’s no real hurry from PSG to start looking for replacements yet.
The Ligue 1 giants have been linked with Leao again after also showing an interest in the Portugal international in the past, and Johnson admits there is some historical interest there due to the player’s connection with Luis Campos.
PSG chief Campos signed Leao during their time together at Lille, and he could make sense as an ideal left-sided forward to come in if Mbappe leaves at the end of his contract, but PSG may try a different approach instead.
Johnson says there are already top attacking talents at the Parc des Princes, and it may be that PSG will choose a cultural shift to their squad-building approach, rather than replacing one star name with another.
“I understand Leao has been of interest to PSG in the past, and there’s the connection there with Luis Campos, who has worked with him before, having signed him at Lille. Still, his form has suffered a little recently, and that’s something that has to be factored in, though I think the fact that Campos knows him well could count in his favour,” Johnson said.
“We’ll have to see if it’s a deal PSG can make work and it’s definitely one to keep an eye on, but I also wouldn’t be surprised this summer if PSG reassess their attacking options after a first full season with a lot of new signings playing together.
“We saw Randal Kolo Muani, Goncalo Ramos and Bradley Barcola join in the summer, and there’s already a potential situation with Ramos that might require a solution at the end of the season. Or we could obviously see Mbappe leave and that might create more of an opportunity for Ramos.
“I can’t really see a world in which PSG have Mbappe and Leao in the same team, but then again if Mbappe does stay and make a more permanent move into a central role, it could be something that Luis Enrique can make work. Overall, though, I’d say it leaves more questions than answers.”
He added: “I wouldn’t say that PSG are preparing for the worst with Mbappe right now – they’re pretty well stocked in attack anyway, and if anything if Mbappe were to decide to leave it would give them greater clarity on who they would want to continue with and what role they’d give to those players.
“We’ve already seen rumours about Marco Asensio, for instance, so there are players like him and Ramos who have issues with game time. Randal Kolo Muani’s form is also a bit of a concern and there’s a question mark over whether he really fits, so there’s a lot of work that needs to be done there, and that’s whether Mbappe stays or not. It’s therefore a little hard for PSG to prepare for life without Mbappe now as they very much hope for him to stay, so until all avenues have been exhausted and they know for definite that he’s not going to stay, I don’t think PSG are going to start putting plans in place for a replacement.
“There’s also a change of culture going on at the club, which means that they basically already have their next star name coming through anyway in the form of Warren Zaire-Emery, so I’m not sure there’d be a big rush for a marquee signing like Leao to replace Mbappe even if he did decide to move on.
“If Luis Enrique is going to be there for the long term, a lot of the focus will be on working out which players fit into his plans. They had a very bloated squad that needed thinning out over the last couple of years and so they’ll be keen to avoid over-spending and ending up in that kind of situation again.
“So, overall, I don’t see PSG necessarily looking for a like-for-like replacement for Mbappe, it will be more of a case of continuing this cultural shift that we’ve seen being put into place over the last couple of years.”