PSG get Ousmane Dembele, Joao Neves and Desire Doue back for the Monaco match. Monaco arrives amid transfer-window chaos and distractions.
After resting on Saturday and Sunday, PSG returned to training on Monday and began preparing for Friday night's clash against Monaco at Parc des Princes. Luis Enrique could count on three important returns.
Held to a draw at Lille last Friday after once again coming back from a two-goal deficit, PSG hosts AS Monaco on Friday night at Parc des Princes for its first home match of the season and its first home match since May 10. A great fixture and a real clash, as AS Monaco is currently top of Ligue 1 with 6 points after two matchdays.
PSG, which had two days of rest on Saturday and Sunday, returned to the Campus in Poissy on Monday as planned. Ousmane Dembele was present after having several extra days of rest last week, in agreement with Luis Enrique, his staff and Luis Campos.
Out with illness last Friday at Lille, Joao Neves was also present on Monday on the Campus pitches and could therefore return to the Parisian squad for PSG-Monaco on Friday night. Finally, also note the presence of Desire Doue at training on Monday, three days after his halftime substitution against Lille.
"He had a small muscle problem. Nothing serious; we don't want to take any risks with our players," Luis Enrique told the press Friday night, before specifying: "Nothing to do with a tactical or technical decision."
On the verge of being transferred to Aston Villa for more than 55 million euros, Ibrahim Mbaye was at Villa Park on Monday night to watch his future team's defeat against Arsenal (0-1). Bradley Barcola is officially a new Liverpool player as of Monday.
It may not seem that important, but we will also have to wait and see how Monaco arrives mentally for Friday's match. Their transfer window has seen unexpected moves that could cause instability because of the backlash they are receiving.
They had to cancel the signing they had already agreed to with Cruz Azul midfielder Erik Lira because it appeared that Folarin Balogun would not go to Everton after all. Then it turned out that the American striker would indeed leave, but by then they had already agreed to sell Lamine Camara to Chelsea.
What happened next? They cancelled the sale of Camara because they considered that they would already have enough income from the sale of Balogun, and... what happened next? Balogun ultimately stayed, and his move to Everton fell through. Neither the American nor the Senegalese left, leaving Lira stranded. We'll see how focused they are for Friday.
