We visited Paris Saint Germain to take stock of how what they have built is now their biggest weakness.

It’s a cold Saturday in Paris, three days before Christmas, and there’s a certain irony as I arrive to watch one of the world’s wealthiest footballing clubs play whilst the city awaits to see if mass protests about high tax rates will continue. It’s a trip framed by economics. Matchday sees the resumption of all fixtures in Ligue 1 after the nationwide protests caused the suspension of most games over the past few weeks; this is PSG’s first league fixture in three weeks, and it was only confirmed 72 hours beforehand that the game was actually taking place. Yet, a longer term problem revolves around the league; with no competition for PSG, it has stifled the team’s ability to fulfil the words of their Qatari owners and bring the Champions League title, in many ways it has become a league of limitations for PSG.
Project. Project. Project. If ever a word was to gain notoriety alongside a football club, it is Paris Saint Germain and the ‘’project’’ their Qatari investors have embarked on ever since buying the club in 2011 and boldly declaring they would bring the UEFA Champions League to the club for the first time in history. The project had been gradually building with the signings of players such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Edison Cavani and Thiago Silva before taking it to an unprecedented level in the summer of 2017 by spending nearly £400m on strikers Neymar and Mbappe, fees that shocked even in a sport known for outrageous financial outgoings. The signing of Mbappe was a double blow, as it also effectively hindered the chances of Monaco retaining the title they shockingly won in the 2016/17 season by taking away their star player.
Last season PSG coasted to the Ligue 1 title by 13 points, Cavani scored 28 goals and Neymar 19 as the team romped to 108 goals in the season. However, domestic bliss has been coupled with a sense of frustration at the team being unable to topple the best in Europe. Losing 6-1 to Barcelona in 2017 as a 4-0 first leg lead was overturned was the sort of result that scars a club for a generation. Last season the side tamely fell to tournament masters Real Madrid in the last 16, and there were growing rumours that Neymar would leave PSG to join Madrid; an indicator at the growing sense that Ligue 1 domination alone is not matching the ambitions of players at the club. German coach Thomas Tuchel was hired in May 2018 with a mandate to succeed in Europe, a tough ask for a young coach with no proven track record of winning continental competitions. His first act as manager was to assure Neymar that the team will be built around the Brazilian’s exceptional talent and that has had a visible consequence; this season has been Neymar’s most productive at the club.