Financial Fair Play? What is that? That appears to be the attitude of Paris Saint-Germain director of football Leonardo who says that his club will buy big again this summer.
PSG is closing in on its first Ligue 1 title in 19 years and after an impressive Champions League run, further spending is expected this summer from the club’s Qatari owners ahead of another assault on the Champions League next season.
The French side have been linked with Real Madrid star Ronaldo, but Leonardo played down the chances of a deal.
“On Ronaldo, there has never been an offer,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport. “I’ve never heard anything about [Wayne] Rooney or [Edinson] Cavani either. I do not rule out big signings, but only if there is a suitable opportunity.
“We do want a larger squad with adequate cover in all areas in order to avoid the sort of problems we had in January in midfield with all the injuries and suspensions.”
Because of his familiarity with Serie A football due to his time with both Milan clubs, it is no surprise that Leonardo has targeted Italy for most of his buying. He signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva from AC Milan, as well as Ezequiel Lavezzi from Napoli and Thiago Motta from Inter Milan.
But after draining most of the talent from Italy, it is time for Leonardo to plunder other leagues saying:
“The market is opening up,” he said. “We may look in Spain or England.”
Interestingly, for all the money that they have spent on players, PSG has spent very little attention to French stars like Karim Benzema, and Leonardo says that is about to change:
“The idea of seeing the great French players here is something I like,” he said. “I’m not necessarily talking about Benzema, but maybe [Samir] Nasri, [Franck] Ribery or[Yohan] Cabaye.
“But I do not know if it is feasible and I have not had contact with any of them.”
The issue remains how can PSG target the likes of Ronaldo, Rooney, Nasri and Benzema and stay in line with FPP regulations? Unless the teams ownership feels that these are toothless regulations and Uefa will not do anything if they continue to buy whoever they want.
