PSG, a billion-dollar recruit this summer?

The announced departure of Kylian Mbappé this summer should allow PSG to do some crazy things. Until breaking a glass ceiling?

The summer promises to be scorching behind the scenes at PSG. Kylian Mbappé leaving, the recruitment unit promises to be buzzing. With certainly spectacular fishing attempts to strengthen the squad at Luis Enrique's disposal. Among the targets already coveted in the past is a pure Barcelonan: the young Gavi, 19 years old. An arch player locked by the Blaugrana house.

Having been playing professionally for almost three years already, the Spanish international (27 caps, five goals) is currently on the sidelines – sidelined by a serious knee injury since November – but Barça has taken care to protect his nugget by flanking him with a release clause of one billion euros.

Barcelona-Paris, a proven route

Behind this clause, not an imperative but a stated desire to deal in the long term with local talent. A hoped-for continuity, however, undermined by the probable departure at the end of the season of Xavi Hernandez – a coach to whom the young player is very close – even if the Catalan management has not yet given up on retaining its coach, even if it means sacrificing its director sporty Deco.

Certainly, PSG, which made contact with Gavi representatives a year ago, will not fail to take advantage of this artistic vagueness in the event of an opening. “ After preliminary discussions last summer, the player's entourage and Parisian intermediaries agreed to keep in touch », We can read this Monday in L'Equipe. On the verge of finding themselves in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the two clubs concerned are after all used to doing business. Since the arrival of the Qataris at the helm in 2011, no less than eight Barcelonans have joined Paris, recalls the sports daily: Maxwell, Neymar, Kays Ruiz, Xavi Simons, Rafinha, Lionel Messi, Arnau Tenas and Ousmane Dembélé.