Just days after PSG confirmed their place in the Champions League final with a final four victory over Arsenal, the club’s next generation put on a show, putting four goals past Montpellier. A heavily rotated lineup meant this wasn’t PSG at their strongest, but it offered a hint of just how much stronger they could get in the coming years.
There was a start for 18-year-old Senny Mayulu who opened the scoring with an arrow into the roof of the net following a surging run into the box. 17-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye was also included and set up Gonçalo Ramos for the second goal of the game with a neat cut-back from a run down the right side.
Luis Enrique started five teenagers against Montpellier, highlighting his faith in the young talent coming through at the Parc des Princes. The Spaniard might have been rotating his squad having wrapped up the Ligue 1 title so early, but the potential of players like Mayulu and Mbaye was clear for all to see.
Mayulu has featured in 26 matches in all competitions for PSG this season. He is a box-to-box midfielder who offers plenty on both sides of the ball, something that makes him a good fit for Enrique’s high-intensity style of play. His goal against Montpellier illustrated the explosiveness with which Mayulu plays.
Mbaye has been on the radar at PSG ever since scoring his first goal for the club as a 16-year-old. The Clairefontaine graduate likes to get in behind with his direct running and could be compared to Bukayo Saka in the way that he wants to stand up his opponent in a one-on-one situation as often as possible.
Then there’s Axel Tape who has started PSG’s last two Ligue 1 games as part of a back three. The 17-year-old made his name in PSG’s youth ranks as a central midfielder, but Enrique has so far deployed him as a defender, making good use of his natural ability on the ball. Against Montpellier, Tape got high and wide on the right side to maintain PSG’s structure without Achraf Hakimi.
Noham Kamara and Yoram Zague have also had an opportunity in recent matches to play as part of a back three. The teenagers are like so many PSG youngsters in that they have been fast-tracked into the senior squad having caught the eye for France’s youth teams. This is the future of the club.
For years, PSG wanted be France’s Galacticos. Their identity was based on the idea they could lure the best, and most expensive, players in the world to the Parc des Princes, something they did by signing the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar. As a team, though, PSG lacked the coherence and structure to win the biggest trophies, namely the Champions League.
Now, the Parisians are trying to be more Parisian. The French capital is Europe’s most prolific hot bed of young talent and PSG are doing their best to establish a pathway into the first team after years of ignoring the quality under their own noses. This new approach is reflected in the make-up of Luis Enrique’s first team, but also in the youngsters still to have truly made it.
PSG’s next generation will have to be patient to truly establish themselves in the first team. This is because the side that has won this season’s Ligue 1 title and reached the Champions League final is only just getting started itself. João Neves is 20. Bradley Barcola is 22. Nuno Mendes is 22. Désiré Doué is 19.
Enrique has harnessed the exuberance of youth to turn PSG into one of the most fearsome teams in Europe. At their best, the French champions are a force of nature. They can control games through possession. They can swarm opponents when they lose the ball. They even play on the counter-attack as they did at times against Arsenal in the Champions League semi-finals.
As someone who was steeped in the values of Barcelona both as a player and a manager, Luis Enrique is the perfect figurehead to lead PSG into a new era. This new era would be validated by Champions League glory against Inter at the Allianz Arena later this month, but there could be even more to come for a club that can’t stop producing elite-level prospects.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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