Georginio Wijnaldum will reportedly be left in France when Paris Saint-Germain jet off to Japan for their pre-season tour in the coming days.
Wijnaldum only joined PSG on a three-year contract from Liverpool last summer but has already been deemed surplus to requirements in the French capital. At the time the 31-year-old midfielder was in high demand, with PSG gazumping Barcelona with their wage offer to land him.
But Wijnaldum endured a miserable debut campaign in Paris, frequently being left on the bench by Mauricio Pochettino, who struggled to keep his star-studded squad happy. Wijnaldum even bagged the unwanted title of ‘Ligue 1 Flop Signing of the Year’ after contributing just one goal and three assists in the French top flight.
Pochettino has been sacked, along with sporting director Leonardo, and the new regime are intent on clearing the deck at PSG. New manager, Christophe Galtier, football advisor Luis Campos and sporting director Antero Henrique are overseeing a brutal squad clearout. It will soon be clear who isn’t wanted at PSG when the squad for the tour of Japan, where they will play three friendlies between July 16 and July 25, is announced.
According to L’Equipe , Wijnaldum, Mauro Icardi, Layvin Kurzawa, Julian Draxler, Ander Herrera, Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe, Rafinha, Sergio Rico and Idrissa Gueye will all be left in France and have also been transfer listed. Abdou Diallo will also be left behind while a move to AC Milan is negotiated.
If Le Parisien are to be believed then you can add Thilo Kehrer, Leandro Paredes and Danilo Pereira to the list of ‘undesirables’ at PSG. While they might want to get rid of all of those players, doing so will be extremely difficult. PSG are notorious for paying high wages and, even if they are unhappy and ready to move on, buying clubs may well be unwilling to pay up.
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Wijnaldum is a prime example. The Dutch midfielder looked set to join Barcelona when his Liverpool contract expired last season. He only chose PSG when they hijacked the move by stumping up astronomical wages cash-strapped Barca couldn’t afford to match.
According to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf , the French giants offered Wijnaldum annual salary worth more than £8.6million (after tax). Of course, that is nothing compared to Kylian Mbappe, who earns £42.5m (€50m) per year and was paid a bonus of £153m (€180m) just for staying at the Parc des Princes.
Wijnaldum has repeatedly been linked with a return to Liverpool, but Jurgen Klopp is understood to be happy with his side’s business in the summer transfer window. The Reds have signed Darwin Nunez, Fabio Carvalho and Calvin Ramsay and are not looking to add another midfielder to the mix.
