PSG and AS Monaco: Superclubs battling it out on the transfer front

PSG: Can they do it two years in a row?

Paris – one of the most prominent centres of art in the world. Home to iconic buildings like the Louvre museum, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, the capital city is the melting pot for cultures, arts and theatre. Also doubling up as the financial hub of France, Paris is where people meet and business is done.

An eight-hour drive away from Paris is Monaco, where people head for recreational activities following a busy week. It’s a sovereign city-state, little more than 2 km in land area, situated in the French Riviera, southeast France. With a population of 37,000, mostly comprising of celebrities and affluent individuals, Monaco is the pleasure centre of Western Europe, with its gentle climate, splendid scenery, tourist attractions and inviting tax laws.

There is a world of difference between the two places, but Paris and Monaco do have one thing in common – Football Superclubs.

Owned by Qatar Investment Authority, Paris St. Germain, or PSG, is the shining light of French Football. Following a second place finish the previous season, PSG, backed by high-profile signings, clinched the Ligue 1 title in the 2012-13 campaign, after a gap of 19 years. With the national team coach, Laurent Blanc, also being lured to the Parc des Princes, it is safe to say that PSG is the capital club of France, both literally and metaphorically.

But PSG’s place in the sun is slowly being overshadowed by the new kid on the block, AS Monaco. With close to €150 million already spent on marquee signings in this summer’s transfer window, Monaco has successfully managed to usurp PSG’s position at the top and grab the world media’s attention.

Bankrolled by Russian billionaire businessman and philanthropist Dmitry Rybolovlev, the tiny state of Monaco has made a big splash in world football following the club’s promotion to Ligue 1 after clinching the second division title at the end of the 2012-13 season.

Having already agreed a contract with Radamel Falcao before the transfer window officially opened, Monaco further outlined its intention by snapping up the Porto duo of Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez for a combined fee of €65 million, in the process sending shockwaves through the rest of Europe and making its presence known to the major players in the transfer market.

Signing a striker as in-demand as Radamel Falcao from right under the noses of the elite clubs only goes to highlight Monaco’s transfer strategy. It’s not the reported €60 million fee, but the statement of intent that matters. A club like Monaco needs exposure, and so signing a world-renowned striker, albeit at a staggering price, is a step in the right direction.

The effect has been almost instantaneous. Almost every potential big transfer has AS Monaco as one of the rumoured buyers, who, even if not interested in the player, would still be appreciating the media focus that is helping put the club on the front pages.

What Monaco are doing is trying to create a ripple effect with the huge transfers, broadcasting Monaco as the go-to place for decorated footballers. If you can get enough big names in your side, more will follow and soon there will be a world-class squad as opposed to just a star-studded playing XI.

Monaco’s mega-buy: Radamel Falcao

It remains to be seen whether more players are attracted by the glitzy pull of Monaco, but then Monaco does have a trump card up its sleeve in the form of no income taxes, a stumbling block in most salary negotiations for footballers. Monaco’s position as a tax haven is a fruit too sweet to resist when salaries run into the millions. Add to it the opportunity to rub shoulders with movie stars and iconic sportsmen that Monaco provides, and the entire package becomes too good to refuse.

In the capital, things are much quieter. Or at least PSG must have hoped for that. After a breakthrough season in 2012-13 and almost two years of heavy spending, PSG would have been looking to consolidate their position and carefully navigate the post-spending spree years. The fact that PSG have yet to dip their toes in the transfer market suggests a more prudent approach has been planned by the higher-ups this time as opposed to the bank-breaking deals in the first two years of the Qatari-era.

They also have the advantage of a squad already filled with quality, so a few more financially astute signings may well have been enough at the start of the window.

But the blitzkrieg in the transfer market by Monaco has thrown a spanner in the works for PSG, and it seems their hand has been forced in the transfer market. With Monaco looking to snap up world-class talent at exorbitant prices, PSG have been forced to act and retaliate with their own statement of intent, in the form of a €63 million bid for Napoli‘s Edinson Cavani. The transfer is now seen as a formality as both manager Laurent Blanc and director Leonardo have confirmed the player’s impending arrival.

It’s possible that PSG intended to make a marquee signing this season as well, following in the footsteps of signing the likes of Javier Pastore, Lucas Moura and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But the timeline of the bid suggests that the blazing start by Monaco has left them stunned and that the club, in signing Cavani, is simply deviating from its pre-planned strategy of consolidation and is grabbing a player when it can so as to not lose out to Monaco.

Welcome to the world of football superclubs, where diamond cuts diamond and where even the richest club in the world has to fight for a player or lose out to another money-laden club.

A thousand kilometres separate Paris and Monaco, but the gap between PSG and Monaco will not be that big considering the way both are going about their business. Within a span of a month, Monaco have announced to the world and their rivals that France is, indeed, big enough for two superclubs. Whether they will co-exist mutually or destroy each other over time is another matter.

As the creme da le creme of football fly out to Paris and Monaco, there is excitement and hope in the air, as French football, suddenly flush with superstars, becomes the cynosure of all eyes. The last French club to win the Champions League was Marseille back in 1992-93, the inaugural edition of the tournament. But with the kind of talent making its way to French shores, coupled with the rapid ascent of Monaco and the stabilization of PSG, there is a growing feeling that 2013-14 might just see the start of French domination in Europe.