Liverpool fans understandably have reservations heading into the new season when glancing at the transfer business of the Reds’ closest title-rivals.
Man City broke the Premier League transfer record to bring Jack Grealish to the Etihad in an £100m deal, and could well break it again before the end of the month should they successfully lure Harry Kane away from Tottenham Hotspur.
Meanwhile, Manchester United have signed Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund for £73m and agreed an initial £34m fee for Raphael Varane from Real Madrid, while Chelsea are close to re-signing Romelu Lukaku in a £97.5m deal from Inter Milan.
With the trio making up the top four alongside Jurgen Klopp ’s side in the past two seasons, it would be a surprise if the quartet weren’t all competing for the Premier League title this year with such transfer activity ensuring it could be more tightly-contested than ever before.
Yet it’s not just on English soil where Liverpool face a battle for major honours, with Paris Saint-Germain proving you don’t even need to spend big transfer fees to significantly strengthen your squad.
READ MORE: Lionel Messi transfer saga puts Liverpool on £116m Mohamed Salah alert
Having suffered a rare misfire to miss out on the Ligue 1 title last year as well as exiting the Champions League at the semi-finals, the French side have laid down a marker heading into the new campaign in the most emphatic of fashions.
With Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos and Gini Wijnaldum all signing on free transfers, along with the €60m recruitment of Achraf Hakimi from Inter Milan, the Ligue 1 giants had already proven they meant business this season when strengthening a squad that already contains Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Angel Di Maria.
Then they agreed a deal to sign Lionel Messi following his shock departure from Barcelona.
With the likes of Marquinhos, Marco Verratti and Mauro Icardi also already on the books at the Parc des Princes, PSG have suddenly built a squad that outshines even the Real Madrid Galatico era.
Yet great individuals don’t automatically make for a great team.
Yes, their latest recruitment drive is littered with serial winners but this is nothing new for PSG, even if the arrival of the greatest player on the planet takes them to new levels.
After all, they have spent big before on the aforementioned players, along with the likes Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and Edinson Cavani, and also brought in high-profile free agents who boast trophy-laden CVs before such as Gianluigi Buffon and Dani Alves.
Yet despite a back-catalogue of such names, their 2020 Champions League final defeat to Bayern Munich is still their best return in European competition, with last year’s semi-final loss to Man City the only other time they have progressed past the quarter-finals in the modern format.
Still linked with the likes of Paul Pogba, of course this PSG side is the most formidable it’s ever been. But that doesn’t make it invincible.
A look back at Real Madrid’s ‘Galacticos’ era from 2000-07 proves exactly that.
They admittedly enjoyed initial success with the signings of Luis Figo in 2000, Zinedine Zidane in 2001 and Ronaldo in 2002 helping deliver two La Liga titles and a Champions League.
But as they chased more A-List names, such as David Beckham in 2003 and Michael Owen in 2004 at the expense of the likes of Claude Makelele and Fernando Morientes, the trophies dried up with just one more league title to add to the cabinet in this era coming in 2007.
Signing Messi, Ramos, Wijnaldum, Donnaruma and Hakimi, who boast 18 league titles, nine Champions Leagues, the World Cup, three European Championships and Copa America winners’ medals between them, should on paper take PSG to new heights.
But only if Mauricio Pochettino can turn this plethora of world class individuals into a world class team, with Klopp demonstrating in recent years alone at Anfield the best way to build success.
Liverpool haven’t built the most expensive team, paid the highest wages or signed the planet’s most famous stars.
Instead, the Reds have taken the likes of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk on a journey from top four hopefuls to English and European champions, and Klopp will be looking to add to both titles again this year.
His side beat a star-studded PSG in the Champions League group-stages in 2018/19 before performing the most famous of comebacks against Messi’s Barcelona in that year’s semi-finals on their way to winning Europe’s biggest prize.
And besides, with Messi aged 34 and Ramos aged 35, neither are long-term signings.
Yet despite undoubtedly being two of the very best players in their respective positions, the Argentine hasn’t won the Champions League since 2015 while the Spaniard hasn’t lifted it since 2018 despite continuing to play for star-studded sides featuring the likes of Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
There is no escaping the fact that PSG’s summer transfer business has just made it harder for the likes of Liverpool to win the Champions League, but that has never stopped them before.
Both in Pot Two for this season's group-stages, Klopp's men can't face them until the knock-out stages anyway and then it's anyone's game.
The Reds are used to competing with Man City’s millions domestically and still finding a way to come out on top. Such a challenge is nothing new.
And while PSG might have now boast the likes of Messi and Ramos alongside your Mbappes and Neymars, Pochettino’s side hasn’t won anything yet.
