Does PSG really need to recruit a new number 9?

Paris Saint-Germain officially kicked off their 2024-2025 season this Friday with the first day of Ligue 1. After a rather special preparation with only two small friendlies over the entire summer, Luis Enrique’s team traveled to Le Havre to try to get their championship off to a good start. And that’s what happened with a big victory (4-1) acquired not without difficulty thanks in particular to goals from Barcola, Dembélé and Kolo Muani. A perfect evening on paper. On paper only, because despite the defeat, PSG had the bad news of seeing Gonçalo Ramos come off injured in the 20th minute of play. Grimacing, the Portuguese international was clearly suffering from a left ankle injury and the results confirmed the bad news. Victim of a fracture of the left ankle, the striker will undergo surgery and will miss at least three months of competition. Enough to completely relaunch PSG’s summer transfer window in attack? There is debate since, as we revealed to you, PSG does not seem to want to numerically replace the former Benfica player. But the question arises…

Yes, we need to recruit quickly

The PSG transfer window has been singled out in recent weeks. With the departure of Kylian Mbappé, which had been known for several months, the Parisian management was supposed to hit hard on the transfer market to replace a player capable of scoring around forty goals per season. But for the moment, PSG has not gone crazy on the contrary and has only recorded the arrival of Désiré Doué in the offensive positions. Enough to worry the supporters who believe that the team is not at all equipped to compete with the big European teams. And they are not necessarily wrong. It is difficult to see PSG competing with Randal Kolo Muani as the only alternative as number 9. Last season, the former Frankfurt player had a hard time finding his football again and showed some rather worrying clumsiness in front of goal. During the Euro, he seemed to find some sensations, but generally speaking, betting only on him seems quite risky on PSG’s part. And even if Luis Enrique sometimes tries to position Marco Asensio in a false number 9 role to find an alternative, we are far from an offensive line capable of titillating the giants of Europe.

PSG would therefore have every interest in taking advantage of the situation to recover a number nine on the front of the attack. Especially since the market for center forwards is active this summer with the Osimhen and even Isak, Vlahovic or Gyökeres files. The opportunity to recover one of these attackers is to be seized and could allow to have much more offensive choices. And if unfortunately, one of the other available attackers of PSG were to get injured, Luis Enrique’s choices would be considerably reduced. At a time when there will be many more matches in C1 and a rather disputed championship, PSG therefore needs to recover a striker. The departure of Kylian Mbappé has not really been compensated, and if in addition the absence of Gonçalo Ramos is not, it will start to be very complicated.

No, PSG does not need it

Gonçalo Ramos’ injury will not disrupt the Parisian season for very long. The Portuguese striker will miss 3 months of competition and Luis Enrique has already proven in the past his ability to adapt tactically to his team and to what he has on hand. Ramos’ absence will notably allow Randal Kolo Muani to settle in the number 9 position over the long term and probably gain confidence. The former Frankfurt player has already proven that he is capable of getting up to speed and he can therefore do it again here, without pressure and with a team around him that will play to serve him in the best conditions. His coach did not fail to support him publicly this Friday, explaining that he really appreciated his style of play. “Randal Kolo Muani is one of the best French strikers. To be even better, he must have this confidence but I am very happy with him, he is a very good player, we must give him confidence“, he explained. And tactically, Luis Enrique will also be able to adapt by aligning Marco Asensio to try something else or give the French international a breather. We can even think that the arrival of Désiré Doué brings an additional solution in this role of false number 9 who drops back and comes back down to get the ball.

These options seem credible for PSG this season and since the Spanish technician wants to bet on youth, the absence of Gonçalo Ramos will also allow more places to be left for certain Parisian kids like Ibrahim Mbaye for example. Finally, the 3-month absence of Gonçalo Ramos comes at the start of the season where PSG does not seem really worried sportingly. The next deadlines will not be really decisive and the Parisian club, which has a squad all the same well above its competitors, will probably be able to manage this absence without too much worry. Even in the Champions League, with the new formula, PSG will not play its season on the first months and can therefore calmly wait for Ramos to get back on his feet. Because recruiting someone this summer would cause a traffic jam on the number 9 position in a few months… And it is not the best idea to manage a locker room.