‘They’ve lost a bit of magic’ – Thierry Henry critical of overly youthful PSG side | OneFootball

‘Paris is Magic’ reads the slogan atop the stand of the Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain’s home stadium. Not so, according to Thierry Henry.

It is not the first time that the former France international has been critical of PSG this season. Henry notably believes that the departure of Kylian Mbappé has done a lot of harm, as he stated after Les Parisiens UEFA Champions League defeat against Arsenal.

“They don’t have that match-winner that they had in the past. Yes the team is more well-balanced, you can see there is an idea when they approach the other team but in and around the box, apart from Bradley Barcola, who was trying to do something, we didn’t see much,” said Henry on that occasion.

After PSG’s latest slip-up in the Champions League, Henry is still far from convinced by the reigning Ligue 1 champions and even called into question the club’s youth-centric approach. “You’ve lost a bit of magic, even though the team seems a little bit more solid in terms of balance. Obviously it isn’t good enough,” said Henry on CBS Sports after PSG drew at home against Paris Saint-Germain.

Henry questions PSG’s youth-centric strategty

It is a result that means that Luis Enrique’s side have just one win from their first three Champions League matches. It means that their chances of qualifying directly by finishing in the top eight now look very remote. Henry was also critical of the age profile of this PSG side.

Les Parisiens have the fourth-youngest average age in their A-list squad. Only RB Salzburg, Sturm Graz, and AS Monaco, who are unbeaten and have won two of their first three Champions League games, have younger squads. “They have decided to go towards youth but when you go towards youth, you can’t go full young too early. You need to have a couple of guys that can be around [them],” said Henry.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle