Where are they now? Laurent Blanc’s 10 incredible signings at PSG

Perhaps Paris Saint-Germain’s most underrated manager of their modern, mega-rich era, Laurent Blanc’s three years in the hot seat helped cement a dynasty built on domestic dominance.

Appointed in 2013 following Carlo Ancelotti’s departure for Real Madrid, the French great was under pressure to follow on from one of the greatest managers of all time with an embarrassment of riches to make use of, a club to mould and owners to please in what has – in hindsight – always been an impossible job.

Blanc fell to the inevitable fate of all PSG managers in 2016 having failed to win the Champions League, but left having won back-to-back domestic trebles and having made 10 (mostly) brilliant signings.

Edinson Cavani

Le President meets El Matador. Having banged them in for fun at Napoli, PSG made Cavani the most expensive signing in French football history (at the time) when paying €64million for his services.

Cavani was almost always overshadowed by a bigger name in Paris – first Zlatan Ibrahimovic, then Kylian Mbappe and Neymar – but it never stopped him from banging in the goals. He left on a free transfer to sign for Manchester United in 2020 having won six league titles (and the rest), finishing up with 200 goals for the club.

He remains their second-highest top scorer in history and likely will be for quite some time. Now 37, the Uruguayan is much closer to home and back in South America with Boca Juniors, reaching the Copa Libertadores final in 2023.

Lucas Digne

Breaking through at Lille, PSG quickly snapped up Digne when he looked to be emerging as one of Ligue 1’s most promising young talents, paying a modest €15million.

He played a backup role for the bulk of his time in Paris before leaving for Barcelona in 2016, but would find himself at Everton just two years later.

The Premier League has proven Digne’s natural calling, with his form for the Toffees earning him a move to Aston Villa in 2022.

Marquinhos

One outstanding season with Roma was enough to tempt Blanc and PSG into paying €31million to snap up Marquinhos in the summer of 2013, and what a decision it was.

Almost 11 years later, the 29-year-old Brazilian captains Les Parisiens, is comfortably one of the best defenders in world football, has made over 400 appearances for the club and is closing in on the all-time appearance record, while also having a stacked trophy cabinet.

Only time will tell if he can add a Champions League to that cabinet.

Yohan Cabaye

Cabaye was a vastly experienced player desperate for a big club to take a chance on him for a long time, having balled out for both Lille and Newcastle.

He returned to France in the middle of the 2013-14 season when PSG paid around £19million to whisk him away from the Magpies, but it didn’t quite work out and he was back in England with Crystal Palace 18 months later.

The French midfielder retired in 2021 after a spell in Dubai and a return to France with St-Etienne, and now works as a director for PSG’s youth academy.

David Luiz

The first glaring miss of the bunch, Les Parisiens paid £50million – a record fee for a defender – to bring Luiz to the Parc des Princes in 2014, only to sell him back to Chelsea two years later for just £30million.

Luiz spent another three years with Chelsea before moving to Arsenal. A rather catastrophic two years in North London wasn’t the end of the road for the Brazilan, who is still going strong at the age of 36 with Flamengo. 

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Serge Aurier

Aurier initially signed on a season-long loan from Toulouse in 2014, but his transfer was made permanent a year later. His spell in Paris came to an end under controversial circumstances, calling manager Blanc a homophobic slur while also taking aim at Angel Di Maria.

Now 31, the two-time AFCON-winning right-back is at Galatasaray after spells with Tottenham, Villarreal and Nottingham Forest.

Kevin Trapp

PSG managed to tempt Trapp away from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer of 2015 and the German would slowly take the number one spot away from Salvatore Sirigu in his first and second seasons.

However, by 2016-17, after Blanc’s departure, he’d lost his place to a young Alphonse Areola and he returned to Frankfurt in 2018 initially on loan, before making the move permanent.

Trapp has remained at Frankfurt ever since and was crucial in them winning the 2022 Europa League.

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Benjamin Stambouli

One season at Tottenham was enough for Stambouli to realise that the grass isn’t always greener away from Ligue 1, having won a title with Montpellier in 2011-12.

PSG paid just £6million to sign the midfielder in 2015, but he was gone the following summer after another one-season move, signing for Schalke and sticking around in Germany until 2021, leaving just as the club’s financial struggles began to worsen.

Stambouli is now back in France with Reims, signing at the beginning of 2024 after a spell in the Turkish Super Lig. He’s been about a bit.

Angel Di Maria

A signing that perhaps should’ve happened a summer earlier, PSG and Di Maria had been flirting with one another in 2014, but the Argentine ended up at Old Trafford after Manchester United coughed up a British record fee.

After one dismal season in England, however, he’d had enough and United cut their losses by selling him to PSG for £44million, where he immediately flourished and set a Ligue 1 assists record in his debut season.

The electric winger settled tremendously in Paris. Despite not winning the Champions League, he left on good terms in 2022 to sign for Juventus, with 295 games under his belt.

He’s now back at Benfica and proving that age is merely a figment of our imagination with a string of throwback performances.

Layvin Kurzawa

After establishing himself as an up-and-coming French star at Monaco, PSG inevitably swooped in for Kurzawa, paying €23million to sign him in 2015.

He’s still on the books in Paris almost nine years later and has won 16 domestic trophies with the club, proving a shrewd purchase, although it looks as though the 31-year-old is finally surplus to requirements.

He spent last season on loan with Fulham in 2022-23 and has made just one appearance for Les Parisiens under Luis Enrique this season.