A season average of 7.53 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Paris Saint-Germain know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Matvey Safonov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
19 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nothing has been signed and nothing has been denied. Supporters who have lived through one of these before know the quiet part lasts months and the loud part lasts a week.
18 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
66 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monaco have kept their man, and Paris Saint-Germain go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Paris Saint-Germain have paid $3.9M for Filip Marschall, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” NK Krka had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Paris Saint-Germain have 17 straight wins of it.
Match23 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
12 on the bounce on the road for Paris Saint-Germain. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Stade Rennais will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Paris Saint-Germain were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Paris Saint-Germain people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Paris Saint-Germain and Stevenage have settled on $3.9M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
15 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $92.8M has been paid because Rafael Leão is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Napoli paid $92.5M and Paris Saint-Germain took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rafael Leão is living that version at Paris Saint-Germain, and it tends to show in the first month.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal that would have taken João Neves to Real Madrid has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Paris Saint-Germain with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
14 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
11 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
$5.1M on the table at OGC Nice. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Paris Saint-Germain offered $3.5M; Le Havre AC said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jonathan Clauss has, at Paris Saint-Germain, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
13 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The offer went to Galatasaray this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Paris Saint-Germain and OGC Nice have settled on $4.8M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
54 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Paris Saint-Germain have had the benefit of it.
12 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
10 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Désiré Doué, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.25
A mark of 8.25 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willian Pacho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
11 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Two goals and a mark of 9.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Désiré Doué did not need any: 8.40, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.35 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Paris Saint-Germain know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willian Pacho is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. João Neves has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Désiré Doué did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ferran Torres and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabián is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Désiré Doué did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The offer from 12 de Octubre for Dro was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Paris Saint-Germain heard it as anything else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fabián and Paris Saint-Germain agree another 5 years.
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Paris Saint-Germain have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Willian Pacho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
Player ratingsFerran Torres was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Toulouse FC will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Paris Saint-Germain were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.55, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Mika Godts takes the afternoon — 8.54
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mika Godts provided it, and the 8.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mamadou Meité did not need any: 8.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Mika Godts, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabián is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
30 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Paris Saint-Germain heard it as anything else.
Le Havre AC will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Paris Saint-Germain were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Paris Saint-Germain have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Position 2, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Paris Saint-Germain heard it as anything else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ferran Torres was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.06, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Paris Saint-Germain and OGC Nice, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Paris Saint-Germain support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Ferran Torres and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Willian Pacho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Vitinha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabián was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Paris Saint-Germain will be judged on one thing only.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match3 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Paris Saint-Germain. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willian Pacho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑0 win over RC Strasbourg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ferran Torres was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.66. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willian Pacho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Robert Roussel was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Paris Saint-Germain dressing room was either.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khvicha Kvaratskhelia signs something — a contract at Paris Saint-Germain or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
FC Lorient will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Paris Saint-Germain were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
João Neves, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Ferran Torres and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabián is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester United have kept their man, and Paris Saint-Germain go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Willian Pacho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Lucas Hernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
8.30. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
A 1‑1 draw with Monaco leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Robert Roussel was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Paris Saint-Germain dressing room was either.
Paris Saint-Germain asked and FC Nantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Paris Saint-Germain until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Paris Saint-Germain hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willian Pacho is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Paris Saint-Germain asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and João Neves takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. João Neves provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Désiré Doué, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33
A mark of 8.33 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Paris Saint-Germain heard it as anything else.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Olympique Lyonnais waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The bid was some way short and Paris Saint-Germain did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Désiré Doué takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Désiré Doué provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Paris Saint-Germain asked and Manchester City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Paris Saint-Germain offered $21.2M; RC Strasbourg said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Ousmane Dembélé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The phone has started ringing about Fabián again, and this time the name on the line is Napoli. Paris Saint-Germain are listening politely and promising nothing.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stéphane Huet is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sébastien François has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Paris Saint-Germain have gone to RC Strasbourg with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Paris Saint-Germain have gone to LOSC Lille with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Paris Saint-Germain will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The phone has started ringing about Ilian Mhand again, and this time the name on the line is Clermont Foot. Paris Saint-Germain are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from Barcelona for Nuno Mendes was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
356 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Paris Saint-Germain know exactly what they have.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Paris Saint-Germain heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Dembélé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.