Mercato / A profile that makes you salivate, a price that makes you think: Lucas Paqueta, the ideal environment for PSG?

The timing is something to smile about. That L’Equipe announces that PSG is interested in Lucas Paqueta just a few days before the duel against OL, and in the middle of the transfer window, is not necessarily a coincidence. A maneuver to destabilize the Lyon environment, so brilliant in the first leg despite the defeat of Gones on the wire at the Park (2-1)? Not impossible. In the past, players like Tanguy Ndombele or Houssem Aouar have also been announced on the side of the capital just before a confrontation between Paris and Lyon. In the end, it never got beyond the scope of rumor.

The months will verify whether Paqueta’s case is different. If the former Milanese were to eventually join PSG, it would not be until next summer according to information from the sports daily. This leaves time for speculation and fantasies. The Brazilian indeed presents several arguments of an ideal target of the Parisian direction to strengthen his midfield next season, even beyond his qualities as a footballer. But that doesn’t exactly tick all the boxes.

A profile that makes you salivate

• The Brazilian connection

Paqueta would land in a favorable environment if he signed for PSG. The Brazilian already knows people in Paris. Starting with Leonardo. The Parisian sporting director had offered him the opportunity to play in Europe by picking him up at Flamengo when he was stationed at AC Milan. But above all Neymar. The two men are close and get along like thieves in the field in the Brazilian selection. The presence of Marquinhos, another member of the Seleçao, in a South Americanized Parisian club suggests that the Lyonnais would have no problem adapting to PSG.

When he arrived in Europe, Paqueta was best known for his creativity and his skills as a dribbler. A “shivering” player who has developed his register on the banks of the Rhône. The Brazilian has not lost any of the assets that have allowed him to reveal himself in Brazil. But he was especially impressed by his volume of play and his remarkable work in collecting the ball. He has become a real “box to box” environment with a technique clearly above the average and an undeniable ability to be decisive. In short, the profile that is missing in the midfield of PSG.

If Paris needs to renew itself in the middle, it is not only on playing criteria. In this sector, PSG is full of thirty (Danilo, Georginio Wijnaldum, Idrissa Gueye and Ander Herrera), while Marco Verratti, 29 years, slowly approach it. Among the elements installed in the first team in the midfield, Leandro Paredes is the youngest and the Argentine is already 27 years old. Paqueta also has the advantage of its youth. At 24, and with solid experience acquired in Milan and then at OL, he would offer the prospect of a welcome new lease of life for the Parisian community.

A price that makes you think

• OL are greedy (and he’s right)

PSG have big money. The other clubs know this and use it to raise the stakes when its leaders come knocking on their door for a player. The price demanded by OL for Paqueta, 60 million euros according to L’Equipe, may thus appear high for a player whose value is estimated at 35 million euros by the transfermarkt site. But Lyon has the cards in hand on this issue. The Brazilian, recruited for 20 million euros, is under contract until 2024 and the Rhone leaders have every reason to aim for a significant capital gain on one of the best players in L1 this season, despite his decline. these last weeks.

• The logic of the market is elsewhere …

The trend is no longer really to spend huge sums in transfer fees to recruit. The market for players at the end of their contract has become far too attractive. While commissions and signing bonuses are inflated, free players are still more interesting from a purely economic point of view. Some circles will present this advantage next June. In particular Paul Pogba, Franck Kessié or Marcelo Brozovic, to name a few. Three players regularly announced in the viewfinder of PSG. For financial questions, Paris is probably better off turning to them than to Paqueta.

• … The priority of PSG too?

The big file of the summer transfer window of PSG, it will not necessarily be Paqueta. The Parisian summer will clearly be based on Kylian Mbappé’s decision to extend, or not, his contract with the club in the capital. And in the event of a departure of its best player this season, Paris should probably take out the checkbook to replace it. A goalscorer of the Bondynois caliber is rare and expensive. The track leading to Erling Haaland is the most telling illustration. Paris is exposed to having to invest in priority on this type of file. More than that of the Lyon environment.