Defending Ligue 1 champions PSG are going into the season with a major dilemma — what to do at the number nine position? Long-term fixture Kylian Mbappé, who has been at the club since 2017, has left, joining Real Madrid in the least surprising transfer of the century. While Mbappé prefers to play on the wing, he’s usually been in the center of the attack — especially since the departure of Edinson Cavani.
PSG has tried over the years to bring in their next star striker with little success. When Cavani left in 2020, Moise Kean and Mauro Icardi were brought in. Kean was solid — although not enough to justify making his loan permanent — and Icardi never came close to replicating his Inter Milan form, heading to Galatasaray for a €40 million net loss three years later.
Two years later with a front three of Mbappé, Neymar, and Lionel Messi, PSG made a big move for the future, bringing in 20-year-old French talent Hugo Ekitiké on loan with an obligation to buy. However, Ekitiké was far from ready for the move, and it didn’t help that manager Luis Enrique completely ignored him. Ekitiké left midway through this season, joining Eintracht Frankfurt — where he has since shown signs of reviving his career.
Last year, PSG again made a splash in the striker market, bringing in Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani and Benfica’s Gonçalo Ramos — with Ramos joining in a deal similar to Ekitiké’s. However, both struggled in their debut season, leading to questions about whether or not PSG would again search for a new star.
It looked like the Parisians would have their new striker after reaching an agreement with Victor Osimhen. Osimhen had previously played in France with Lille and helped Napoli win the Scudetto after scoring 26 goals in the 2022/23 season. However, Napoli are notoriously difficult to negotiate with, and Fabrizio Romano has reported that PSG won’t pay his release clause, effectively killing any potential deal. So who could we see starting up top for the Ligue 1 side next season?
Gonçalo Ramos, PSG
Ramos joined last summer from Benfica on loan with an obligation to buy worth €65 million — that is, in addition to the €15 million fee paid to loan him in. While it was a steep fee to pay, Ramos was coming off of a great season: he scored 22 goals for Benfica, helping win the league and also scoring a hat trick in his first start at the World Cup — also making him the first player since 1990 to do so in a World Cup knock-out game.
He endured a rough start in France, to say the least. By January, Ramos had scored just three goals in Ligue 1 while also suffering a virus in December that caused him to lose eight kilos. Reports started to emerge that Ramos was already up for sale, but he significantly improved in the second half of the season, scoring eleven more goals in all competitions.
However, it was also clear that Enrique didn’t completely trust him — Ramos played just 68 minutes in the UCL knockouts despite reaching the semifinals and failed to score from 1.29 xG against Dortmund. Only one of his five shots against Dortmund — where they were eventually eliminated — was even on target.
Ramos is a selfless, hard-working player. He contributes far more defensively than other strikers — he averages more tackles, blocks, clearances, and interceptions per 90 than Osimhen — and he also knows when to make the right pass. He’s also not very predictable — last season, he scored three times with his left foot, seven times with his right, and four times with a header.
However, right now Ramos lacks the killer instinct PSG are looking for — he’s as likely to miss a perfectly good chance as he is to thunder it home past the goalkeeper. His off-the-ball movement is great, and he gets in the right positions to score, but he’s not scoring consistently. He needs to improve his finishing big time if he wants to be the number nine next season.
Randal Kolo Muani, PSG
Kolo Muani has a similar story to Gonçalo Ramos: he had an incredible 2022/23 season, shined at the World Cup (despite THAT miss), and made a big move — except his was worth €90 million. And he still didn’t really fit into PSG anywhere.
Kolo Muani’s debut season was highly forgettable. He managed only eight goal contributions in the second half of the season, with three of those coming against opposition in the third tier or lower. Like Ramos, he was used little in the Champions League knockouts, playing just 42 minutes. However, he played even less centrally — Kolo Muani started just 12 games at striker, even though nine of his fifteen goal contributions came from the position.
Like Ramos, Kolo Muani is a very unselfish player — he had 17 assists in his lone season for Frankfurt and had six in his first year for PSG. He also has the same problem as Ramos, though, in that he’s a bit of a wasteful finisher — he underperformed his xG in all competitions. However, Kolo Muani is quicker, controls the ball better than Ramos and, of the two, he’s more similar to Mbappé and his play style.
It’s too early for PSG and Enrique to give up on the Frenchman — after all, they did spend €90 million on him. However, he has yet to show that he should be a starter, and he’s running out of time to prove that his signature was a good investment.
Marco Asensio, PSG
It was a big surprise when Marco Asensio left Real Madrid after eight years, joining his countryman Luis Enrique in France. It looked like a massive bargain, too — signing a versatile veteran like Asensio for free, especially after a season where he had twenty goal contributions for Real Madrid, was a low-risk, high-reward move.
Asensio had a solid debut season, but injuries prevented him from gaining much of a rhythm in France. As a result, he started just sixteen matches all season and in many different positions. However, in the three games that he started as striker, he had three goal contributions. He had five more goal contributions as an attacking midfielder compared to just three on the wings.
Asensio has been used as a false nine many times in his career, including in the 2022 World Cup — where he was coached by Enrique, with mixed success. He was also used as a false nine against Barcelona in the Champions League Quarter-finals first leg, although he was hooked at the half for winger Bradley Barcola.
While Asensio won’t be a regular starter (at least not at striker), he remains a solid option off the bench or as a card up Enrique’s sleeve.
Julián Álvarez, Manchester City
Yes, the reports say that PSG will not sign yet another striker. But it would hardly be the first time that PSG made a surprising move.
Julián Álvarez is reportedly open to exiting Manchester City, but few teams can sign the Argentine. Atlético Madrid has been closely linked with him, but they will struggle to find the finances to do so. Chelsea has been linked, as have a few other clubs, but realistically PSG are the only club that could afford to sign him.
While Álvarez wants to leave — reports indicate that he wants to play a larger role at his next club — Manchester City wants to keep him and will fight to make sure he stays. However, if he does end up leaving, PSG should do everything in their power to bring him in.
The Argentine is everything PSG needs — versatile, hard-working, quick, and a good finisher. Not to mention that he’s won basically every competition he’s played in, including the World Cup, Premier League, Copa America, and the elusive Champions League. After just one season in Manchester, the Citizens won the Champions League that they had spent years chasing — maybe PSG would have the same luck if Álvarez joined.
Ultimately, it depends on what Luis Enrique decides he wants to do next season. Ramos is probably the best fit for the current PSG squad with Enrique’s play style. Kolo Muani is the most similar to Mbappé out of the club’s current strikers. Asensio is perhaps more like what Enrique has used in the past. Álvarez is the best player here, although Manchester City are fighting to keep the Argentine. There are options for Enrique and PSG, it’s just a question of getting the best out of them.
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Main Image via psg.fr.