Results may not be going to plan in the UEFA Champions League at the moment, but Paris Saint-Germain are still on the path to pursuing a greater goal of harnessing the astonishing strength of the club’s local talent pool. French capital region. Ousmane Dembélé, Bradley Barcola and Warren Zaire-Emery failed to inspire a turnaround in the 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday, but things look decidedly better off the pitch where the French giant announced big news last week.
PSG inaugurated their new training center in Poissy last Thursday and, despite the snow storm that hit the Paris region, it is clear that the Ligue 1 champions have thrown down the gauntlet to their domestic and continental rivals to establish a new reference point. Spending just over $315 million in the past would have come with the expectation of acquiring superstar names already primed for relatively immediate success at the senior level, but those days are gone and that amount is being spent on a talent creation and extraction tool. vanguard.
“We are immensely proud to present the PSG Campus, one of the most notable, modern and innovative training centers in the world, a milestone that will guide future generations of PSG,” said PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi. “This ultra-modern campus embodies our ambition to train the champions of tomorrow by providing the best resources and most qualified professionals for the development of top talent. The campus also highlights our commitment to inspiring local communities through sport, education , art and culture. The future of PSG is built here, at home, Made in Paris, for Paris.”
Every possible need has been met with the Wilmotte and Associates-designed campus covering 59 hectares of which 150,000 m² are dedicated to outdoor training spaces with no less than 16 football fields, 600 m² of performance space and two hydrotherapy pools. The new Les Parisiens campus, which has hosted the men’s team for over a year, is a center of innovation and will be the model performance center to follow in the coming years with facilities that combine state-of-the-art training. and talent development areas.
Although located in nearby Poissy and not in the center of Paris, the new training center is just 25 minutes from the Parc des Princes and houses not only the men’s teams but also the women’s and youth academy teams, all in the same place, each area adapted to the needs of each team. PSG has pumped significant sums of money into its playing roster during its years under Qatari ownership, but those investments have also gone into the club’s local ties and it is estimated that more than $250 million alone has benefited Ile-de -France for the 2023-24 season. the Center for Sports Law and Economics (CDES).
“PSG may have become an international brand, but its heart and home are here, in the Greater Paris region, where our most passionate fans live and where we feel truly connected. That’s why we are committed to giving back to this community, recognizing the support it has shown us over the last 50 years,” said CEO Victoriano Melero. High-profile guests such as Novak Djokovic were also present alongside legendary PSG figures such as Pedro Miguel Pauleta and Javier Pastore, as well as Laura Georges and Nikola Karabatic to usher in this new era of potential organic prosperity for France’s flagship club.
There is already evidence of this cultural change on the pitch with players such as Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar giving way to a new wave of talent led by Zaire-Emery, assisted by Senny Mayulu, Yoram Zague and Ibrahim Mbaye. Mbaye, 16, replaced Zaire-Emery, 18, as the youngest starter in the capital club’s history earlier this season at just 16 years, six months and 23 days, while Presnel Kimpembe is on hand to join to the generations mentioned by Al-Khelaifi as a local veteran star at 29 years old.
PSG had the youngest average age in its UEFA competition history in last season’s Champions League, just under 24 across the board, which is a philosophy that strongly coincides with coach Luis Enrique, who has built a reputation for developing talent. The Spanish tactician and his staff have been enjoying unrivaled facilities for the majority of his two terms in office and the foundations are being laid for a continued transition towards an even greater locally produced, Paris-bred first team influence, regardless of the current UCL results.
