When you are one of the world’s richest clubs, certainly with finance which dwarfs all of your domestic rivals combined, then the SBOTOP Ligue 1 betting odds will almost always favour you.
Therefore, it goes without saying that much of the latest Ligue 1 news surrounds one club.
Add into the equation that you at trying to hold onto arguably the greatest player in the world, and that focus multiplies.
In recent weeks, these pages have long mooted the difficulty of French clubs keeping hold of their star names.
But should the honeymoon between Paris St Germain and Kylian Mbappe really be over, then the repercussions could be like no other.
This is the player, one of the few, who was not criticised by the fans of his own team last season.
Yes, PSG won Ligue 1 but the margin, a single point from Lens, was a pretty average return considering the vast gulf between the two in terms of financial clout.
While Mbappe shone, the Lionel Messi experiment rarely had the ‘wow’ factor many expected, even though he scored 32 goals in 75 games.
And the club failed yet again in the Champions League, despite the trinity of Messi, Mbappe and Neymar which bordered on ostentatious.
Beyond the domestic league, the PSG cycle now appears to have reached something of a tipping point so it’s little wonder the player who has scored 212 goals in 260 games for the club is eyeing a move.
His contract expires next year and he has expressed his desire to leave then, so PSG are being pressured to sell this summer or face the prospect of a big loss.
Even the arrival of a new coach in Luis Enrique is unlikely to change his stance so it remains to be seen whether the new French captain is involved when Ligue 1 kicks off in just under a month from now.
After claiming a fifth straight award as France’s top scorer, who can replace him is the question being asked by many.
Well, according to reports, Dusan Vlahovic has given his greenlight to move to the Ligue 1 powerhouse from Juventus.
Closer to home, Jonathan David has settled at Lille and his contribution last season culminated in a career-best 24 league goals, extending his record to 52 in 112 league games since moving to France.
Then there is Lois Openda whose goals fired RC Lens back into the big time as the club secured Champions League qualification for the first time in two decades.
Runners-up in Ligue 1, Openda starred as one of France’s finest forwards to score 21 league goals, including the fastest hat-trick in Ligue 1 history, scored within four minutes and 30 seconds in a 4–0 away win over Clermont Foot.
Habib Diallo is on the radar of a number of Premier League clubs after the forward’s year-on-year improvement at Strasbourg which featured 20 league goals last term, to take his tally to 40 in 100 Ligue 1 appearances.
Elye Wahi has also emerged as one of Ligue 1’s brightest talents across the last two campaigns, with the 20 year-old forward having shown real signs of potential at Montpellier.
Wahi followed a 10-goal return in 2021/22 with an even better campaign last season, scoring 19 league goals to rank among the league’s leading scorers.
Perhaps then, the replacement is on their doorstep.
Should Mbappe depart, and it seems almost certain he will – even if 12 months from now – they will have lost someone who has delivered Ligue 1 highlights in abundance.
Yet if they keep him for another campaign, there is every reason to believe they will improve which perhaps gives them time to consider other options.
So far, the club has been busy in the transfer market this summer, spending some €150 million on Bayern Munich’s Lucas Hernandez, Uruguayan midfielder Manuel Ugarte from Sporting Lisbon, South Korean Lee Kang-in from Mallorca and French striker Hugo Ekitike, who was signed after a loan spell (€ 28.5 million).
On top of free transfer arrivals Marco Asensio and Martin Skriniar, there already appears to be a fresh influx of talent in the French capital and that could be key.
Asensio turned down the opportunity to extend his contract with Real Madrid after seeing his place as a starter diminish last season.
Never mind the big superstars then, what about the substance.
That is something PSG has lacked at key times in recent seasons.
If that is to change under Enrique, then just maybe, Mbappe’s Parisian story will have another romantic chapter to come.
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