Luis Enrique Martínez (53) will have to pull from his habitual backlash, his courage and tough character, his 13 seasons of experience on the bench (eight in clubs and five in the Spanish team), with his 434 games directed, and if he does He still needs to console himself with the 8 million euros that will fall in his annual salary – the highest paid coach in the French League – to face the great challenge that lies ahead at PSG starting tomorrow in his debut against Lorient (21:00 h): not to go up in the air from the powder keg in Paris, with its two millionaire stars on the tightrope, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar.
The Asturian coach is the eighth passenger of this ungovernable ship that is the Qatari-owned PSG in the last 12 years. His three predecessors on the bench did not finish their contracts (Galtier, Pochettino, Tuchel) for practically the same reason, which will be Luis Enrique's double mission: to make a competitive team with an attractive (and collective) style of play, and to attack once the Champions League after 11 consecutive seasons of failures (a single final, the loss in the 2020 pandemic edition against Bayern in Lisbon), without having gone beyond the round of 16 in the last two participations.
To do this, establishing his new cycle in Paris, Luis Enrique has begun to apply his usual recipe –which was already seen in the national team–: do without illustrious veterans and trust in young talent. On the first side, apart from the Mbappé serial, with whom he still does not know if he will be able to count (Al Jelaifi has prohibited him from rejoining the team until he signs his renewal), the Asturian coach has opened the door to Neymar and Verratti -who yesterday they trained with the group, just in case Mbappé jumps–, in addition to Juan Bernat, Renato Sanches and Hugo Ekitike. Leo Messi (Inter Miami), Sergio Ramos (without a team), Icardi (Galatasaray) and Xavi Simmons (Leipzig) are no longer on the squad.
In the chapter of registrations, Luis Enrique -and the sports director, Luis Campos- have recruited an arsenal of reinforcements for the cause, such as Marco Asensio (R. Madrid), Lucas Hernandez (Bayern), Gonçalo Ramos (Benfica), Leandro Paredes (Juventus), Skriniar (Inter), Lee Kang-in (Mallorca), Ugarte (Sporting Lisboa), Diallo (Leipzig), Kurzawa (Fulham), Ndour (Benfica), in addition to the blaugrana Arnau Tenas and Ousmane Dembélé, who yesterday he passed the mandatory medical examination and could sign his contract for five seasons today.
In the event that Mbappé ended up jumping, Luis Enrique would need a nine of guarantees, and in PSG's orbit are the Englishman Harry Kane (in talks with Bayern) and the Frenchman Randal Kolo Muani (Eintracht).
The uncertainties in PSG have opened the prognosis in Ligue 1 (which this year reduces the competition from 20 to 18 teams). The great opponent of the title defended by the Parisians is their usual antagonist, a Marseille in the hands of Marcelino García Toral –Asturian duel on the bench–, who has notable signings such as Aubameyang, Renan Lodi, Kondogbia, and the Senegalese Ndiaye and Sarra.
The third contender in contention is the surprising Lens by Franck Haise (he was second, one point behind PSG), who bets on the young midfielder Andy Diouf (20), signed from Basel for 15 million euros.
