That Paris Saint-Germain was able to purchase the contract of the hottest player in world soccer for just $57 million seems almost unfair — and certainly incongruous given how the PSG brand had been built in recent years.
There is nothing about this club, or superstar forward Ousmane Dembele, that is the same as it once was.
More than a decade has passed since Paris Saint-Germain launched its mission to win the UEFA Champions League by assembling a squad of Galacticos, which more or less translates in French to Galactique, which translated to nothing more than a single appearance in the final before the club decided on a more efficient direction.
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Now, here they are, 90 minutes at Parc de Princes removed from a Champions League final in which their presently dynamic brand of soccer might make them favorites to win the trophy for the first time ever.
With manager Luis Enrique again looking like one of the world’s best, PSG did to Arsenal on Tuesday evening at Emirates Stadium what they did to Liverpool in the round of 16, which was to dominate the action and flow of the game without necessarily lighting up the scoreboard. It’s only a 1-0 advantage PSG will take into the second leg next week at home, but they have a way of making such a lead seem almost insurmountable.
That Dembele scored the game’s only goal hardly could be a surprise. He has 45 goal contributions for his club in all competitions, and he has scored himself 25 times in this calendar year. What was shocking was Arsenal allowing him to advance into the box unmarked, with only PSG forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia noticing the movement. He rolled a sweet pass to his teammate, and Dembele knocked it off the far post and over the goal line.
At 27, Dembele is enjoying a season unlike any he produced in his long history in top-flight soccer. He has spent 10 years in one of Europe’s top five leagues and only once before reached double figures in goals. His 21 Ligue 1 goals this season are superior to his five prior seasons combined, one of them with PSG and the other four with FC Barcelona in La Liga. Some of that has been a product of a rather persistent injury history, but most of the problem might have been the pressure of justifying the $158 million transfer fee Barcelona paid to acquire him from Borussia Dortmund in 2017.
He was part of the Barca spending spree that also included $190 million for Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho, which led that club toward a financial crisis.
PSG had its own version of this economic lunacy, acquiring Neymar and then Lionel Messi in the hope they could do more than win the domestic league. That never happened, but building a team more organically, more strategically might be working.
Dembele was part of France’s World Champions in 2018 and started for the team that reached the final in 2022, but he’ll arrive at the 2026 World Cup in a more prominent role — as a figure expected to do much more than contribute while Kylian Mbappe grabs all the attention.
In addition to Dembele, PSG brought Kvaratskhelia in from Napoli for $72 million in January – he was phenomenal against Arsenal’s overmatched right back Jurrien Timber – and 19-year-old Desire Doue from Rennes before the season. This formidable forward line was among the primary reasons the club put together its most dominant league season since 2015-16, and is in line to eliminate a third consecutive Premier League power from the Champions League.
Arsenal had plenty of the ball against PSG and a fair number of excursions inside the opposing penalty area, enough to conjure an expected goals number of 1.65 that was superior to PSG’s 1.14. But aside from a disallowed goal that was generated by a uniquely choreographed – but ultimately illegal – set piece, Arsenal only occasionally threatened the goal protected by Gianluigi Donnaruma. And he showed again that any opponent is going to need more than a mere threat to beat him.
The second leg of the series will not be contested until May 7, which may give Dembele time to recover from the leg injury that led him to be removed before the 70th minute.
Luis Enrique said Dembele’s injury is “minor” but did allow it’s possible he could miss the second game.
“We’re going to try to get Dembele back,” he said. “But we’re a real team. If Ousmane can play, that’s better. But if he doesn’t, we’ll still be a real team.”
It’s no longer about being the best team money can buy. It’s about being the best team smart money can buy.
