How Paris Saint-Germain’s Academy Strategy IS Transforming The Club’s Future

‎When academy forward, Senny Mayulu scored the final goal in Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final win over Inter Milan, it stood for more than just adding to a decisive victory.

‎The moment highlighted a deeper shift in the club’s philosophy. After years of investing in superstar signings, PSG is changing course.

‎With a new €350 million ($403 million) training campus, the club aims to develop future squads primarily from its own youth system.

‎The facility near Paris unites PSG’s men’s, women’s, and youth teams under a single umbrella, signaling the club’s emphasis on cultivating homegrown talent.

‎”There’s only one flight of stairs to climb,” sports director Luis Campos told reporters.

‎”In the long term, it will be possible to build a squad without spending fortunes on the market and have a team with a French identity.”

‎PSG’s evolving identity is already evident, with five academy players, Warren Zaire-Emery, Senny Mayulu, Noham Kamara, Ibrahim Mbaye, and Quentin Ndjantou, integrated into the senior squad this season. The club also fielded the youngest starting XI in their history against Montpellier in May, averaging 21 years and 251 days.

‎Their Champions League-winning side was similarly youthful, ranking as the second-youngest team ever to lift the trophy at 24 years and 110 days, just behind Ajax’s 1994-95 squad.

‎Two of the club’s brightest prospects have broken records Zaire-Emery started a match at 16 years, four months, and 29 days, and Mbaye played aged only two months older.

‎The policy marks a departure from the approach taken after Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) acquired the club in 2011, when PSG became one of Europe’s biggest spenders.

‎The French champions signed global stars such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and Lionel Messi, but failed to win the European Cup for the first time with them.

‎Three pillars of the project

‎The campus project, finished in January 2024, rests on three pillars: sporting development, education, and personal growth, said academy director Yohan Cabaye.

‎Cabaye also confirmed last week’s visit by the Inspection du Travail, the French state body responsible for enforcing labor laws, which is examining alleged mismanagement at the academy.

‎”We have nothing to hide,” he said.

‎”When you have ambition, you must accept the level of demands that come with it. We have to keep moving forward and working.

‎”For me, the most important thing, and where everyone’s focus should remain, is our core mission.”

‎The proximity of the academy players to the senior squad is intended to ease transitions.

‎”We want our youth teams to understand the principles of play used by the head coach,” Campos said.

‎”When they step up, they must already know our pressing and possession game.”

‎To create room for them, PSG has deliberately trimmed the size of the senior squad.

‎”These are not gifts,” Campos added.

‎”Our squad is built to have 14 or 15 versatile players and space for six or seven academy talents to earn their place.”

‎The shift comes as French football faces economic pressure following a downturn in domestic broadcast revenues. For PSG, developing players in-house is becoming both a sporting and financial necessity.

‎”This is just the beginning,” Cabaye said.

‎”We’re celebrating 50 years, but this project is the start of something much bigger.”