The Ligue 1 has always been widely and highly regarded for one of the best leagues in the world of football when it comes to developing young talent and also helping foreign talent to transition from the lower leagues to the big ones like England or Spain. In that regard, they are one of the most interesting leagues to watch because you can find some gems that no one has ever heard about and learn a lot more about the game.
Unfortunately, while there is a lot of excitement when it comes to the raw talent that Ligue 1 has, in terms of competitiveness for the title race… there isn’t really much to it. Sure, you may get the odd win by AS Monaco in 2017 or LOSC Lille in 2021, but the reality is that this league is dominated by the strongest team in the competition, Paris Saint Germain.
Since the Qatar takeover in 2012, PSG has become one of the most powerful teams in world football and they have managed to sign some of the best players in the world. You just have to mention that the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Beckham, Edinson Cavani, Angel Di Maria, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar Jr. and Lionel Messi have all played for Paris Saint Germain during this time period is enough evidence of the club’s financial muscles.
And of course, this has translated to them winning the league with ease time after time and they are already sitting comfortably on the top spot, with very little chance for the rest of the opposition to win the competition.
Let’s be blunt here: there is no chance for Paris Saint Germain to not win the league two years in a row and they are already set to win the league once again.
So why is that the case? Why is PSG going to win the Ligue 1 league tournament this season? Read the following reasons:
Sheer squad quality.
Paris Saint Germain have by far the best squad in Ligue 1 and it’s not even a joke how above they are from the rest of the competition. There have been examples of how Neymar’s transfer fee is higher than entire squads in the league, which goes to show the difference in investment and resources that PSG have when compared to the rest of the league.
And it’s not just about fees but actual squad quality. When you are dealing with PSG, they have a plethora of talent that can make the difference at any given time. Imagine that you are a defender and you have to deal with the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Messi and Di Maria at the same time, with Mauro Icardi as a backup option… something has to give at some point as a defender.
This is why a lot of times PSG don’t even have to try too hard to make a difference and this is why they usually walk the league title with ease: they are just way better than the rest of the opposition.
And while that is the argument that a lot of people use, there is a lot more to it that is worth taking into account.
A lot more experience.
Simply put, PSG players simply know how to win and that is extremely important when you are performing in a league tournament. As we have mentioned before, you may get the odd Monaco or Lille victory, but those are exceptions to the rule and they don’t stick around (more on that later), so it is hard to expect miracles when you are facing a squad filled with serial winners.
As we have also mentioned before, there is a lot of young, raw talent in Ligue 1 and they are usually learning their way into the game, so it is hard for the other sides in the league to build a proper squad that can challenge every season and builds the necessary experience to make a difference in these sorts of tournaments.
The reality is that experience does matter in football and guys like Messi or Neymar know how to win, but even if you focus on the likes of Kimpembe, Verratti, Hakimi… they have also won a lot of stuff and that experience is precious when push comes to shove in tournaments of this ilk, which is an edge that PSG always has over the other teams.
But it’s not the only edge that they have.
The selling nature of the league.
Ligue 1 is known for promoting young, unknown talent and selling them to the best leagues and teams in the world, which is good for business and makes more football people to follow the tournament, but it doesn’t help when you are trying to build a competitive squad meant to challenge for trophies, which is something that ends up becoming counterproductive in the long run.
This is something that needs to be taken into account when analyzing the dominance of Paris Saint Germain: the fact that the other teams constantly need to sell their best players and that in return leads to a constant reshuffling of the squad, thus leading to a degree of inconsistency in their performs which makes a lot of sense and gives the Parisians an even greater edge.
PSG, of course, doesn’t have this issue. They are backed by their Qatar owners, so they can afford to support their star players financially and make sure that they want to stay there, so there is very little upside for them to leave Paris Saint Germain, which has often been dubbed a “golden cage” for a lot of players that see their careers stagnated there.
Conclusion.
At soccer tipsters, you can see there are many different reasons why PSG constantly win the Ligue 1 tournament and they will continue to do so this year because they have the quality, they have the experience and their rivals are not consistent enough due to a wide variety of reasons, so another league trophy for the Parisians is meant to come their way.