Neymar speculation lingers as PSG aim to shatter glass ceiling

PARIS: Interminable transfer rumours surrounding Neymar continue to swirl unabated as the new Ligue 1 season kicks off this weekend with defending champions Paris Saint-Germain launching their assault for a seventh title in eight attempts.

Thomas Tuchel’s side began their campaign by lifting the Champions Trophy in Shenzhen, China, gaining a modicum of revenge with a 2-1 victory over Rennes, the team that shocked PSG in last season’s French Cup final.

As Neymar served the last of a threematch ban, incurred after a spat with a fan following April’s shootout loss, Kylian Mbappe pleaded with the Brazilian to stay during their trip to the Far East.

“Everyone loves him and I love him so much,” Mbappe said of Neymar, the world’s most expensive player who has been linked with a return to his former club Barcelona. “I don’t want him to leave the team, obviously. I want him to stay. When you think about his situation and then he plays very well and he cooperates with the team you can see what he means to us.”

The Brazilian suffered another injuryplagued season, missing PSG’s embarrassing Champions League defeat by Manchester United, as well as Brazil’s triumphant Copa America campaign.

The 27-year-old has also been embroiled in widely publicised rape allegations, vehemently denied, which were eventually dismissed by Brazilian police for lack of evidence. Amid Neymar’s tumult Mbappe, who took the 2018 World Cup by storm, tormented Ligue 1 defences to the tune of 33 goals to emerge as the club’s true poster boy.

Mbappe moved to quell any doubts over his own plans, having caused alarm when he spoke of playing “elsewhere” at the French league awards ceremony in May. “I think it wasn’t the right place (to say that),” the 20-year-old said while in China. “I’d like to say sorry to the players who were there, because I spoiled the party.”

Last season’s title race quickly turned into a cakewalk for PSG, but after a domestic treble in 2017/18 under Unai Emery, his successor fell short in both domestic cups.

Despite that disappointment the brief for Tuchel a year on remains unchanged with PSG desperately craving success in Europe, after another calamitous exit. “It hurts a lot, it hurts still that we did not go through,” midfielder Julian Draxler told AFP, five months on.