At the Parc des Princes,
As we know, you always have to be super careful with end-of-summer love affairs. Nevertheless, after what we saw of the PSG midfielder against Lens on Saturday evening, we say to ourselves that Paris may have finally found its winning trifecta, with this trio of fire Vitinha-Ugarte-Zaire Emery. Long orphaned by its irreplaceable Thiago Motta and Blaise Matuidi, PSG may have slammed the equivalent of the United States military budget to get a makeover in the middle, it has never managed to find the rare pearl or pearls. And to be honest with you, it was not by seeing Manuel Ugarte land, stamped “foal of Jorge Mendes”, against 60 million euros, that we thought that Paris had finally found its handyman. . And yet…
Already like a fish in water in Paris, the young 22-year-old Uruguayan literally dazzled the Parc des Princes on Saturday evening, raising ball recoveries to the rank of (martial) art. Asked about him after the match, Luis Enrique had stars in his eyes when talking about Manu the balloon sweeper. “I don’t think there’s a single fan who didn’t like his ball recoveries tonight,” he said. This is due to two things: his individual qualities and the fact that the team puts him in the best conditions to achieve this. The fans were celebrating his actions as assists and it’s very important for us to feel that. It was great like the previous two games. »
Ugarte, the watchdog you can count on
Indeed, it did not take long before Ugarte put the public of the Park in the pocket. And us with. Tireless in the middle of the field, the former Sporting takes a monstrous foot to do the dirty – but essential – job of raking balloons. A veritable washer of all options, not ugly either when it comes to opening the game and restarting clean. Asked in the mixed zone after the match, Ugarte detailed the instructions that will be his this season: “The coach asks the team in general, and me personally, to recover the ball as quickly as possible, and that’s Very important. We create chances when we have the ball and when we lose it we recover it as quickly as possible to attack again. Said like that, it sounds easy. And it is, by the way, when you watch him play.
The figures attest to this: in 90 minutes, the Uruguayan recovered a good ten balls and won 70% of his duels (11 out of 16). Asked about him in the mixed zone after the victory, the young Warren Zaire-Emery couldn’t believe it: “Manu, he’s crazy (laughs)! He collects too many balloons! It is a great pleasure to play with him and Vitinha. The Parisian Titi is not mistaken: the XXL performance of the new watchdog of the Parisian milieu should not only be analyzed from an individual point of view. Because it is the overall performance of the three in the middle, with Zaire-Emery and Vitinha, which must be saluted as it should be. These three, with a very distinct profile, complement each other wonderfully and combine with their eyes closed, to offer a good launching pad for attackers.
Vitinha, rebirth
On the verge of destruction last season, after a more than promising start, Vitinha also delivered an incredible match on Saturday, like this chocolate deviation for Mbappé, before hitting the ball at his feet and opening deep for Marco Asensio’s first goal. Sometimes in the middle three, sometimes on the left side to fill the void left by Mbappé, the pocket Portuguese seems to have regained the confidence he had gradually lost last season, again flaunting his technical quality above of the average and his game intelligence during the offensive projection phases.
Finally, last but not least, what about Warren Zaire-Emery, 17 years old, Shetland pony thighs and an absolutely mind-blowing maturity for his age? The followers of the PSG youth teams did not fall out of the cupboard on Saturday evening because they have known the animal for a while. But it’s nice to know that we are facing a special player, it’s still quite funny to see him evolve at such a level so early. Launched in the deep end by Christophe Galtier last season, WZE is now an essential part of the game system put in place by Luis Enrique.
WZE, already the midfielder at only 17 years old
This one was like all the supporters after the match: in love. “Clearly I love him,” said the Spaniard after the game. He is an incredible player despite being only 17 years old. He really has everything to become one of the most important players in the squad. He is very technical and very hardworking. It’s a chance for a coach like me to arrive at a club and come across such a rough diamond available. It is now up to us to accompany him on his way so that he stays at PSG for a very long time. He gives a lot of joy to the fans. This communion, I don’t know if you saw it, was incredible between him and the supporters when not long ago he was one of them. »
We saw her, Luis, we saw her. After the match, while the other players were content to greet the ultras from afar, Zaire-Emery headed to the foot of the Auteuil bend to take the megaphone and sing a song he knows by heart, he, the in love with PSG. The kid is already no longer a promise in the eyes of the ultras, he’s their number 1 favorite. And accompanied by his two acolytes, he risks getting dirty throughout the season. Can’t wait for the first notes of the Champions League music to confirm that the summer hit has enough to last.