Psg, Mbappé-Neymar at a distance: the groups in the locker room, tensions and alliances

Friendships, affinities, aversions and of course power games, with quarrels, opportunistic or spontaneous alliances, and maybe even some betrayal. Life in the locker room is never a calm river, especially in that of PSG. Neymar knows it well, explaining how football isn’t all about “love and friendship”, and that sometimes arguing is also good for you. As happened on Saturday, with him and the captain Marquinhos opposed to the sporting director Campos. An argument which, however, should have remained in the locker room, as underlined yesterday by the Brazilian, and which instead ended up in the pages of the Equipe which today, so as not to be dictated by the editorial line, published the exact geography of the Parisian locker room. A map that reveals the balance of the Emir of Qatar’s club squad.

Suspects

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First of all, the obvious distance between Mbappé and Neymar is striking. It is known, by their own admission, between the two there is no longer a true friendship. Gone are the days when in the summer of 2017 Neymar, who had just landed in Paris with the status of most expensive player in the world (222 million euros paid to Barcelona, ​​still a record), sent text messages to the Frenchman to convince him to move from Monaco . Mbappé arrived at the end of the market and declared himself determined to help Neymar win the Ballon d’Or. It seemed like a solid and successful alliance. The following summer, however, everything changed. Mbappé returned from the World Cup in Russia with the title of champion, with the idea of ​​winning the Ballon d’Or himself. The trophy instead went to Modric but something broke in the balance between the two. So much so that in 2019, the Brazilian even tried to return to Barcelona, ​​to no avail. Since then everything has been up and down: “There are periods in which we are very close, others not”, explained without filters Mbappé who signed up for a record three-year deal worth 630 million last spring. And Neymar is convinced that the Frenchman has asked for his head in order to sign the renewal. Suspicion denied by the Parisian.

Megaphone

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In any case, today, in the locker room, the two keep a safe distance. Indeed, at the antipodes. Mbappé has found a seat near the entrance, on the left. To his left, his real friend Hakimi, the one with whom he often goes on vacation together and shares his free evenings. Around Kylian, therefore, there is the whole native pole which includes not only the young people (Zaire-Emery, Bitshiabu and Gharbi), but also Mukiele and Ekitike, who landed in the capital on the recommendation of the Mbappé clan. But in the French clan, reinforced by making a clean sweep of the South Americans (Di Maria, Paredes, Icardi in particular), there is also Kimpembe, the ambitious vice-captain who would like the armband all for himself. On Saturday, the centre-back effectively disobeyed captain Marquinhos who had asked his teammates not to go and greet the fans after the 3-1 defeat in Montecarlo. Kimpembe, on the other hand, even presented himself in front of the ultras with a megaphone.

Distance

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It is therefore no coincidence that Marquinhos is at the furthest point from them, flanked by Neymar. Among other things, it was the two of them who argued on Saturday with DS Campos, who, before being promoted by President Al Khelaifi as a consultant for sports policies, acted as an intermediary to convince Mbappé to renew, at the same time renouncing, an ongoing negotiation , to Real Madrid who had hired him to bring the Frenchman to Ancelotti’s dressing room. However, around the two Brazilians the Portuguese (Sanches, Mendes, Pereira and Vitinha) and the Spaniards Bernat, Rico and above all Ramos, who sits on the right of Marquinhos, as unofficial captain also for the coach Galtier, articulate.

Third pole

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And Messi? The Argentine is in the middle, in a sort of third pole, at a safe distance from his friend Neymar, but not too far from the now equal-ranking Mbappé. And the two Italians act as his bodyguard. Donnarumma, finally freed from the cumbersome presence of Navas (unloaded on loan at Nottingham Forrest despite the support of his friend Ramos who, however, has an expiring contract), but above all Verratti who Messi considers a reference on the pitch. Like Neymar who praised him yesterday at the press conference: “We play better with him.” And like Mbappé who considers him a friend even outside of work commitments, so much so that he and a few others invited him to the presentation of his comic book autobiography. A glamorous, very exclusive event in the presence of various famous French personalities, but not Messi and Neymar. With whom, however, he must all the same come to terms, on the pitch, for PSG to win. Especially in the Champions League.