In the “offensive titi” family, there is the eldest, Kingsley Coman, who joined the French football team in November 2015. Six years later, it was Moussa Diaby’s turn to experience his baptism of fire with the Blues. Called up for the first time for the two friendly matches against Côte d’Ivoire (March 25) and South Africa (March 29), Christopher Nkunku completes the triptych in attack of these players from Paris or its suburbs and trained at Paris Saint Germain.
In total, eight of the twenty-three players summoned by the coach, Didier Deschamps, are part of these “titis” passed through the PSG training center. To the three already mentioned are added goalkeepers Alphonse Areola and Mike Maignan, midfielders Adrien Rabiot and Mattéo Guendouzi as well as defender Presnel Kimpembe.
But only the latter is still a resident of the capital club, in which it is difficult to find a place after his training. The financial horizons offered by the Qatari takeover in 2011 marked the advent of a new sports policy. The latter is essentially based on the recruitment of world stars, often foreign, with a dual perspective of radiating and quickly performing at the highest level.
Kingsley Coman quickly understood that this immediate need for the result was going to get the better of his Parisian lease. “What is difficult in the situation of PSG is that they want results immediately. With the development of young (…), you have to wait three or four years. Maybe they didn’t have that patience.” analyzed the native of the capital, guest of the Canal Football Club on Sunday March 20. He joined Juventus Turin after a single season (2013-2014) almost white, and two small entries in the league.
An exodus dictated by sports policy
Christopher Nkunku had to wait for his third and last full season in Paris to obtain playing time that favored his progress (13 starts in Ligue 1, i.e. as many as the two previous years). A last year ended on a bad note, and a missed shot on goal, synonymous with defeat against Rennes in the final of the Coupe de France 2019. A few months later, he chose to leave his club, to join Leipzig against a compensation of 15 million euros.
In three and a half years in Paris, he has never really been able to compete at a very high level, with less than thirty minutes played in the Champions League. In February 2021, he confided to the microphone of Canal Plus the motivations for his departure:
“The arrival of Tuchel made me think. Starting a season without knowing my role is complicated. »
PSG is the fourth provider of professional players in the five major European championships
The massive presence of “titis” at the highest international level maintains the paradox. A recent study by the International Center for Sports Studies (CIES) on training centers in 2021 shows that PSG is the fourth provider of professional players (30) in the five major European championships.
“The quality of all these players has been identified by Paris-Saint-Germain educators, but it’s just the eternal talk about playing time that surfaces,” analyzes Patrick Guillou, specialist in the German championship which he has been commenting on since 2004 (today on the BeIN Sports channel) and where Coman (Bayern Munich) and Nkunku (Leipzig) play, but also Diaby, who has come to swell the ranks of Leverkusen since the summer 2019, also for an amount oscillating around 15 million euros.
Germany as a springboard to the French team
The neighboring country has been able to give these young talents playing time and visibility. Kingsley Coman flew there in 2015 after his Turin season to join Bayern Munich, where he won six championships and a Champions League in 2020. The Bavarian winger has established himself as a benchmark. If they still have a long way to go to imitate their eldest from the training center – elected by his peers “Titi d’or” in 2012 and 2013 -, Christopher Nkunku and Moussa Diaby have also chosen to tread German lawns to continue their progress.
“The German markets are recruiting very young players with high potential, promising them (…) progress”
“The German markets are recruiting very young players with high potential, promising them substantial playing time and progression through contact with great players. Without forgetting the most important, the possibility of expressing their talent in European competitions, essential to reach the international level”, deciphers Patrick Guillou. The average age of players is among the lowest there (26.55 years), according to a study carried out by CIES in January 2022 on 15 championships.
After two seasons of adaptation across the Rhine, Nkunku is exploding at the highest level, with 15 goals and 9 assists in the league over the current year. Not to mention his seven goals in six European Cup games, including a resounding hat-trick on the lawn of Manchester City in September.
Despite a season provided at PSG under the orders of Thomas Tuchel (25 appearances in Ligue 1), Moussa Diaby made the choice to leave. “I stepped out of my comfort zone when I left Paris. In Germany, we find what we came for: playing time, confidence.he confided to AFP in August 2021. And like his ex-Parisian friend, the third season is one of explosion, with here too regular statistics on the domestic level (12 goals and 7 assists) and continental ( 4 goals and 2 assists in eight Europa League outings).
Versatile and assertive with references to the highest European level, they will try to find a place in the new game system of Didier Deschamps, which tends towards 3-4-3 (three defenders, four midfielders, three attackers). If Kingsley Coman has shown the skills to settle there, Diaby (4 selections) and Nkunku (0) will have to take advantage of these friendly matches to prove that they form a credible alternative to the offensive trident Mbappé-Benzema-Griezmann for the World Cup in Qatar.