Owen Hargreaves has urged PSG to ‘rip their whole project up and start again’ after they were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday.
The French side lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in Germany, a 3-0 aggregate score, as they fell short of their ambitions again.
The club has never won the Champions League, but has invested hundreds of millions of pounds in an attempt to do so.
They have won Ligue 1 in eight of the last 10 years, but have repeatedly struggled on the European stage.
Following their latest failure, Hargreaves insisted Christophe Galtier’s side need to start again with younger, home grown players in their squad.
PSG were eliminated from the Champions League once again on Tuesday evening
Lionel Messi and Co. lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in Germany, falling to a 3-0 aggregate defeat
Owen Hargreaves has urged the French champions to ‘rip their whole project up and start again’
‘Bayern prides itself on having some of the best German players at its football club’, Hargreaves said. ‘Muller, Musiala, Kimmich.
‘PSG should rip their whole project up and start from scratch. They have the best young talent pool in all the world in Paris, Fofana, Nkunku, Dembele, all these guys should play for PSG, why are they going to wherever it is?
‘They could win Ligue 1 with those young French players and you sprinkle in one or two superstars to help the young guys, but they’ve got to rip that project up. They barely have any young French kids in their team, it’s ridiculus.’
Bayern outclassed the Parisians on the night and throughout the duration of the tie
Joe Cole slammed the club for being ‘miles off’ their aim of winning the tournament
Joe Cole backed up Hargreaves’ argument, pointing to the fact that the club has been unable to lift the Champions League in its history.
Stars such as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar have failed to help the club’s fortunes, with off-the-field issues regularly at the centre of attention.
Cole, also speaking on BT Sport, compared PSG’s fortunes to Bayern, before agreeing with Hargreaves regarding more French players turning out for the Parisians
‘The difference between Bayern and PSG is how the club is run’, Cole said.
Christophe Galtier’s side have never lifted the trophy despite spending hundreds of millions of pounds trying to do so
‘With PSG, the superstars have come in and there always seems to be trouble. You don’t have that with Bayern Munich. They have difficult times, but it’s kept in house.
‘When it comes to big moments they show personality. The Paris Saint-Germain project was built to win the Champions League and they have been miles off it.
‘They’ve got some of the best players over the last 20 years in the club and the young French players scattered around Europe could be doing what they’re doing at a quarter of the cost with an identity that the fans can connect with.
‘I think the PSG project ultimately looks like it’s going to be a failure.’
Paris Saint-Germain told to hire Diego Simeone or Jose Mourinho to realise Champions League
aris Saint-Germain have been told to go all out and hire either Diego Simeone or Jose Mourinho in order to win the Champions League.
Not even superstars Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe can get them that elusive crown as the French side crashed out of the competition again with a defeat to Bayern Munich in their last-16 clash.
Messi was ineffective against Bayern
Mbappe could not make a difference either
PSG needed to score after losing the first leg 1-0 at the Parc des Princes but never truly tested Yann Sommer in the Bayern net as the German side ran out 2-0 winners through Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry strikes.
It means that the French giants have crashed out of the first knockout round of the Champions League five times in the last seven seasons, an abysmal record considering the money spent at the club.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Danny Mills tore into Messi and Mbappe – who failed to have any impact – while naming two managers that PSG must turn to now if they’re dreams in Europe are to come true.
The former Manchester City defender said on co-commentary for talkSPORT: “Bayern have controlled this, there has been no urgency from PSG at all.
“Messi, disappointing. Mbappe, disappointing. Not really seen them.
“Bayern, exceptional team performance. No superstars, no outstanding performances, everybody has been eight out of ten.”
Bayern’s tight-knit team swatted aside the PSG superstars
It’s felt PSG boss Christoph Galtier has an uncertain future at the club
Christophe Galtier is almost certainly looking at the sack less than a year into the job having already come under pressure this season.
And Mills reckons either Simeone or Mourinho are the ideal coaches to next take on the PSG job.
He added: “If PSG want to win the Champions League, there are two managers out there that they have to go for.
“One is Diego Simeone, because I think if you give him the tools for the job defensively they’ll be so good.
“The attacking talent that they have got you can almost say ‘you know what, go do what you need to do’.
“And the other is Jose Mourinho, because he will build the team for two seasons and he will put together one of the greatest teams ever.
Atletico Madrid boss Simeone has been tipped to save PSG
Mourinho, who has won the Champions League twice as a manager, could form ‘the greatest team ever’ at PSG, believes Mills
“He will make them incredibly difficult to beat and he is a winner, simple as that.
“It will fall apart after two years, maybe three, but there are not that many managers out there that can manage the expectation, the egos of the players, all those types of things.”
The future now looks as murky as ever for Messi, who has been linked with a return to Barcelona with his contract at PSG set to expire in the summer.
While Mbappe, despite signing a new deal in the summer, will also see rumours over his standing at PSG questioned in the coming months.
Messi’s future is now unclear
The Champions League remains the ultimate aim for the club’s Qatari owners but they are no closer to realising that dream since they took over in 2011.
The closest they came was in 2020 when they reached the final but were beaten by their vanquishers on Wednesday night when Bayern Munich defeated them 1-0 thanks to Kingsley Coman, a former player of theirs.