PSG better without Messi and Neymar, claims former opponent

Stuart Telford

• 29 Aug 2023 12:02 BST
• 3 min read

Paris Saint-Germain lost Lionel Messi and Neymar this summer, but it has made them a better side according to former Nice striker Andy Delort.

It has been a tumultuous summer in the French capital.

The 'MNM' strikeforce of Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe had been the envy of much of world football for the past two seasons, but it has been dismantled in recent months.

READ: Luis Campos set for PSG sack after 'resignation requested'

Messi has joined David Beckham's Inter Miami on a free transfer, Neymar has left for Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League in a €90 million deal, and although Mbappe remains, the spectre of Real Madrid continues to hang over his future at the club.

A number of attacking reinforcements have been recruited - Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona for €50m, Marco Asensio on a free from Real, Goncalo Ramos on loan from Benfica - but the new-look side is yet to click into gear, with PSG drawing two of their opening three Ligue 1 games.

Delort: 'the front three weren't defending'

But Delort, who boasts three career goals against PSG across spells with Montpellier and Nice, insists the French champions are better now than before.

READ: PSG fans give Mbappe SURPRISE welcome amid Real Madrid transfer rumours

"On the pitch or when we did the pre-match video sessions, it was obvious that the front three weren't defending too much and that it wasn't the PSG of two or three years ago, which was more balanced," he told RMC's "Rothen Ignites".

"Their recruitment this summer is interesting. These are players who have a different state of mind than the players who left. And they have Mbappe who, as we have seen again, is a phenomenon.

"He responded in the best possible way [to being exluded from the squad in pre-season], and I think he's going to have a great season. PSG will, too."

Messi, Neymar and Mbappe combined for 80 goals and 47 assists last season, but the Champions League continued to elude PSG, the club once again dumped out at the last 16 stage.