PARIS: Zlatan Ibrahimovic has gone after four prolific years in France but a Paris Saint-Germain side now coached by Unai Emery are again expected to dominate as the new Ligue 1 season begins.
It is now five years since PSG were taken over by Qatar Sports Investments and they will be looking to win a fifth consecutive league crown, albeit with a new look.
Despite overseeing clean sweeps of the domestic honours in each of the last two seasons, Laurent Blanc was sacked for failing to take Paris beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Spaniard Emery was named as his replacement, arriving from Sevilla where he won the Europa League in three straight seasons.
Ibrahimovic, whose contract had expired, has gone to Manchester United but there has been no megastar signing made to replace him.
The new sporting director, Dutchman Patrick Kluivert, has however overseen the arrivals of Jese Rodriguez, Hatem Ben Arfa, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Thomas Meunier.
“PSG called me when I was very happy in Seville, but I think I can go a bit further yet with PSG,” Emery told sports daily L’Equipe.
{{/usCountry}}“PSG called me when I was very happy in Seville, but I think I can go a bit further yet with PSG,” Emery told sports daily L’Equipe.
{{/usCountry}}“This club with its current owner is young. With what I have done before I should be able to help them grow.”
Last season, Paris finished a ridiculous 31 points ahead of Lyon in second but there is hope for neutrals that the gap to the rest will be just a little tighter this time.
Lyon are now settled in their spectacular new stadium and coach Bruno Genesio was rewarded for taking OL to second spot with a new three-year contract.
Lyon look well-placed to establish themselves as the best of the rest but president Jean-Michel Aulas has been busy criticising PSG for what he deems to be “killing the competition” in France.