Verratti's future, between public quotes and PSG's track record
- David Amoyal
On the surface it would seem like the perfect time for the 24 year old Italian midfielder to leave Paris St Germain this summer, who could blame him considering he has all these suitors- after all he plays in a league where there usually isn’t much competition and the collapse against Barcelona shows how hard it will be for PSG to win the Champions League. But the situation isn’t quite that simple if you look at a series of recent interviews and the current Ligue 1 champions track record on the transfer market.
Let’s start with the interview Verratti’s brother Stefano gave to l’Equipe a few days before the return leg against Barcelona, he stated that he and Marco grew up as Juventus fans and that he while he was at Pescara, Verratti was very close to joining the bianconeri:”One day a friend of mine showed me a newspaper stating that Marco was going to Juventus, but he had already signed for Paris St Germain. My mother was surprised that he decided to leave Italy, I must admit I was afraid he would regret the choice. But PSG had great players like Ibarhimovic, Lavezzi, Thiago Silva? Why did they pick Marco? It means he was already a very good player”
The importance of this last line cannot be underestimated, later in the interview Stefano Verratti highlighted further the loyalty Marco has towards PSG for believing in him at such a young age:”My brother has always been very respectful of the team that made him come here. I think that if it were up to him he would stay at PSG for life” If that weren’t enough, I like to often remind my readers that before being players, the people involved in transfer rumors are humans first, this is what Stefano had to say:”Marco’s son was born in Paris, he has strong affection for the city. It’s in Paris that he became a man, I believe he’ll return to Italy only if PSG decides to send him away”
This idea that Verratti would only leave if Paris St Germain decided to get rid of him, was echoed by the midfielder’s agent in an interview to Radio CRC, it’s important to note that these quotes were made after the debacle against Barcelona:”Verratti to Inter? Marco has a contract until 2021 with PSG and it must be the club to tell us to leave because we are happy here and have nothing else to say”
Verratti signed a rich extension that expires in 2021 just last summer, with Ibrahimovic leaving he’s become Paris St Germain’s most recognizable player. I often travel to Paris and even before Zlatan’s departure it was pretty obvious how much affection there is in the city for Verratti, if you ask any Paris St Germain fan (or even just someone who follows Ligue 1 closely) they will laugh at the notion that Verratti is leaving- and they have good reasons beyond the public quotes.
Ever since being bought by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, Paris St Germain has been making headlines with big name acquisitions- Ibarhimovic, Thiago Silva, Di Maria, Cavani, Marquinhos and just last January they made arguably the two most significant additions by signing Julian Draxler and Goncalo Guedes. There are few if any teams that can outspend them, and while the French League may not be a destination in it of itself living in Paris certainly has its perks.
While the incoming acquisitions are an easy way to make headlines, what it is more relevant to Marco Verratti’s future is fact that since Qatar Sports Investments took over, Paris St Germain has yet to sell a top player- including Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was never afraid to use the leverage his great agent Mino Raiola is known to create to seek out a better situation elsewhere. As a matter a fact PSG is the club where Ibrahimovic stayed for the longest stretch of time in his career. Many also expected Thiago Silva to either return to Italy or head to the Premier League this summer when his contract expired; instead he signed an extension to stay with PSG just a few months ago.
After the loss to Barcelona, Paris St Germain’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi gave a long interview to Le Parisien about the future of his club in which he showed his commitment to growth:”We’re determined to move forward, we’ll continue making sacrifices because we believe in our results. It would be wrong to think to abandon the project after a heavy loss, because other clubs in Europe took a lot of time after a change in ownership. The strength of a great club is to stay calm in the moments of difficulty and not think about changes”
Now that certainly doesn’t sound like someone ready to blow things up just because of the collapse at the Camp Nou. Of course we have seen how time and time again what is said publicly about transfers isn’t very important, but Paris St Germain’s track record in recent years certainly gives a lot of weight to what Verratti’s brother, his agent and the president of his current club said on the subject.
Of course there is always a first time for everything and the transfer market teaches us that things can change quickly- as an example, who would have thought this time last year that Juventus would sign Higuain? It’s also not out of the question that maybe a club offers a star to Paris St Germain in exchange for Verratti since a boatload of cash isn’t tempting when you are owned by Qatar Sports Investments, but the recent public quotes and PSG’s track record certainly don’t make it a given that Verratti will leave this summer either.