Today’s tell-all didn’t get where it is today without having a little champagne, not too much, just enough
While their fellow European titans,
Manchester City,
Barcelona and Bayern Munich, all raised eyebrows by failing to win – or in the case of the Spanish title-holders, losing – over the weekend,
Paris Saint-Germain’s defeat was arguably the most surprising. Perhaps distracted by the soap opera surrounding the future of their injured striker, Neymar, the French side were beaten at Rennes, who finished in 10th place last season, 39 points behind Thomas Tuchel’s side. Speaking after the game, the PSG manager insisted that his Brazilian friend, who has repeatedly been linked with
Real Madrid and Barcelona, will not be going anywhere unless a replacement can be found first.
“He will not leave without recruitment,” said Tuchel. “It is not possible. It’s clear, if he stays we will have a player who can help us win.” The word on the Parisienne boulevards is that PSG have been negotiating with
Juventus over the £73m purchase of Paulo Dybala, scorer of a preposterously good turn-and-chip goal in a friendly against Triestina. Should they secure the Argentinian’s services, Neymar may go to Real with Raphaël Varane and Vinícius Júnior going the other way in a swap deal and then we can all get on with our lives.