Paris (AFP)

Pending a recovery of the Champions League in August, PSG already has work behind the scenes for next season: secure the cases Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, manage the end of contracts and look into the option d purchase of Mauro Icardi.

If coach Thomas Tuchel, almost guaranteed to remain in office until 2021, seems to take advantage of the early end to the season with a title of champion, sports director Leonardo is prospecting to build a squad that risks losing this summer several historical settings.

- Neymar and Mbappé, a summer without waves? -

Not a single day goes by without the Spanish sports press mentioning the cases of Neymar and Mbappé, respective targets of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, with flashy Unes. What to relive the same thriller of last year?

"Mbappé and Neymar will remain at PSG, and even more considering the situation we are currently experiencing. I had dinner with Neymar before confinement and I saw him very involved in the project," assured their teammate Ander Herrera on the radio. Cadena Cope, mid-May.

"The PSG project is made to make the two feel fulfilled in Paris," he added.

According to a study by KPMG, the coronavirus crisis will cause the value of PSG stars to drop by more than 20%. Recruited against the record sum of EUR 222 million in 2017, Neymar would be worth only around EUR 149 million, while Mbappé is valued at less than EUR 188 million.

Even at "lower cost", the two most expensive players in history, under contract until 2022, no longer seem to be within the means of the two Spanish giants. At least for this summer.

"Pay 100 million euros for a player next season, no one is thinking of it in Spain," sports economist Fernando Lara told AFP.

"Everyone is talking, but nobody knows ... I miss my team," wrote Mbappé on Twitter again at the end of April, accompanied by two red and blue hearts and a photo in the Paris jersey. A sufficiently explicit signal.

- End of contract: Cavani and Silva are waiting -

Will the upheavals caused by the Covid-19 encourage an extension of the players at the end of the contract or the necessary reduction of a payroll exceeding 300 M EUR?

With losses estimated by the club at more than 200 M EUR after the end of Ligue 1, the question of saving a transfer to find a replacement of the caliber of Edinson Cavani (33 years) or Thiago Silva (35 years) ), respectively top scorer in history and captain of the Paris club, lands in high places.

"For us, it would be great to continue at PSG, we love the club (...) This is where the children grew up, it is in Paris that we would like to continue our careers", pleaded the wife by Thiago Silva in Le Parisien, mid-May.

Conversely for the side Thomas Meunier and Layvin Kurzawa, also at the end of the contract on June 30, the trend is towards a departure. After the possible end of C1?

- Icardi, lateral and middle, in priority -

With 20 goals scored in 31 games, Mauro Icardi has done everything to push PSG to exercise its purchase option by 70 M EUR. According to L'Equipe, Parisian leaders hope however to reduce the amount of the operation in view of the new economic context.

In the left-back position, Alex Telles (Porto), Théo Hernandez (AC Milan) and Nicolas Tagliafico (Ajax) are targeted according to the sports press.

On the right, the Timothy Castagne track (Atalanta Bergamo) is being studied to strengthen a sector where only Thilo Kehrer and Colin Dagba are available, in the event of departure from Meunier.

If a defensive midfielder is also expected, the signing of the first pro contract for young nuggets from the academy Tanguy Kouassi and Adil Aouchiche (17 years old) adds other burning issues to Leonardo's summer agenda ...

© 2020 AFP