PSG finally able to focus on new season as Mbappe saga ends and Neymar heads for exit

Seldom has a 0-0 draw been welcomed as so promising. Paris Saint-Germain, serial champions of France, extravagant drivers of transfer fee inflation, began the defence of their Ligue 1 title at home to Lorient, who finished 10th last season, and could not break the deadlock.

But it was what was happening behind the scenes at the Parc des Princes on Saturday that left almost everybody in charge of PSG full of smiles.

Up in the grandstand sat a new signing, the €50 million Ousmane Dembele. If Dembele stays fit, there will be greater dazzle on the wings to supplement the energy and endeavour his new colleagues showed in their first official outing under freshly-appointed head coach Luis Enrique.

Seated next to Dembele was Kylian Mbappe, whose punitive exclusion from PSG practice had meant his absence from the line-up, but who is now back in training, news that was announced just as Mbappe-light PSG picked up their first point of 2023/24.

Thanks to the Mbappe blessing, Luis Enrique and the PSG president, Nasser Al Khelaifi, could cast aside most of their concerns at a scoreless match day one, convinced that the France captain, the club’s leading scorer for the past five seasons, will bring immediate extra firepower. Dembele should also add a complementary balance of speed on the opposite flank to Mbappe’s preferred left side.

The ongoing Mbappe saga has taken a sharp turn. He had, until the weekend, been effectively up for sale, because his contract with PSG expires in 2024 and, given he had very openly refused to extend his deal, PSG were facing the likelihood of Mbappe leaving for free next summer.

Talks between the player, who has rarely cloaked a desire to move to Real Madrid at some stage in his career, and Al Khelaifi