Former Super Eagles captain Sunday Oliseh has shared his thoughts on Paris Saint-Germain’s resurgence following the departure of Kylian Mbappé two seasons ago.
Mbappe rejected a contract extension with PSG at the beginning of the 2023/2024 campaign after the French club turned down a €120 million bid from Real Madrid.
During that season, PSG advanced to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League but were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund, managed at the time by Edin Terzić. Dortmund later lost the final to Real Madrid, Mbappe’s future club.
The French striker eventually completed a free transfer to Real Madrid, while PSG have since reached back-to-back UEFA Champions League finals. Meanwhile, Los Blancos are set to end another campaign without a major trophy.
Oliseh credited PSG’s transformation under coach Luis Enrique to the club’s willingness to move away from a star-driven squad featuring Neymar, Lionel Messi and Mbappe, toward a more balanced and hard-working team setup.
The former Juventus midfielder argued that the current attacking trio of Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia offers a stronger pressing approach than PSG’s previous frontline.
“When PSG lose the ball in the previous team, no one was pressing. They have now sacrificed egos, the superstars. The team is now the star,” the ex-Juventus man said on the Sunday Oliseh global Football insights show.
“In fact, I’ll say that Mbappe did them a favour because prior to his exit, it was said that he called the shots at the club, but you don’t hear it anymore now.
“Players are now saying if they don’t run, they don’t play. When you hear things like that from Dembele who’s the best player in the World, that tells you that the club has totally evolved.
“This is the evolution of football. They’re now in the UEFA Champions League final with practically the same team for 24 months,” Sunday Oliseh concluded.
PSG will now aim to retain their UEFA Champions League crown when they face Arsenal on May 30.
