PSG should be developing the future greats of French football. Instead they are signing players to plug holes in their squad

By Adam White and Eric Devin for Get French Football News

Two years after leaving PSG for RB Leipzig, Jean-Kévin Augustin has returned to Ligue 1 on loan at Monaco. RB Leipzig signed the young forward for €13m in 2017 – a year after he had won the European Under-19 Championship with France, picking up the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament awards in the process. Augustin did not fulfil his promise in the Bundesliga, but his departure remains significant for PSG. His move marked the beginning of a trend for the club. In recent transfer windows, PSG have offloaded a host of young, developing players. That exodus of talent has continued unabated in the current window, with returning sporting director Leonardo seemingly doubling down on this approach.

Last week the club sold 17-year-old Arthur Zagré (their reigning academy player of the year) to Monaco and 20-year-old Stanley Nsoki to Nice. These two youngsters are following in the footsteps of Christopher Nkunku, Moussa Diaby, Timothy Weah and Giovani Lo Celso in leaving PSG. All of them apart from Lo Celso were academy products and all apart from Weah had played a considerable amount of first-team football in recent seasons, with Diaby and Nkunku in particular impressing.