The new sporting director Leonardo wasn’t given too much time to get his feet under the table at Paris St-Germain. The capital club have added five new players to their squad in only a week for a total cost of £30 million.
The new additions are quality players: Valenciennes centre back Milan Bisevac, Roma playmaker Jeremy Menez and St-Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi all arrived on Monday and were followed by Palermo goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu and Juventus spoiler Momo Sissoko.
It has been a spectacular spree which has been possible thanks to the new Middle Eastern owners: since Qatar Investment Authority have seized a controlling stake in the side two months ago, Paris St-Germain has become the joint-favourite with 2009-10 champions Marseille in the Ligue 1 Outrights Betting Market. The odds are currently as low as 3.50.
Remarkably, Paris St-Germain have claimed the title only twice in their history and last time was in 1993-94. They have been something like a sleeping giants in recent years, tough their frenetic activity in pre-season show their desperation to get rid of this tag as swiftly as possible.
Major upheavals such as this rarely provide instant success in football, where usually a transitional campaign is generally needed before a serious challenge can be mounted. They are however already on the upward curve after they have finished fourth in the last campaign. This was already the best performance in the last seven season: the gap between the best and the rest in France is far easier to bridge than in several other top leagues as proved by Lille that jumped from fourth to first in the last term.
The odds have been slashed after the summer transfer window: those who got on board earlier were able to back the triumph of Paris Saint-Germain in the 2011/12 Ligue 1 season at 10 whilst now the current price is down to 3.50. It will be a much more interesting season.
So all eyes will be on newly-rich Paris St-Germain when the French league season kick off Saturday but betting experts believe that punters should still avoid the side from the capital and put their money in two clubs with proven track records instead like Marseille and Lille. PSG has become too short in the outright market and there are too many risks involved as the team is largely new and will need time to settle.
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