PSG have become the marmite of modern football.
Since ‘Qatar Sports Investments’ bought the club in 2011, they have had a meteoric rise both on and off the pitch.
Although, they’re growth has divided football fans around the world.
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While the new age hipster is drawn in by the flashy celebrities and fancy European kits, there is a sense within the ‘Old School’ that PSG are the antichrists of football.
A-listers can be seen rocking up to the Parc des Princes – Beckhams, Kardashians, Rihanna, Jay Z… you know the crowd.
PSG may be fashionable, but they’re footballing prowess has grown stronger and stronger in recent years too.
They’re biggest play at European giant status came when they signed Neymar for £200m last summer.
The transfer more than doubled previous record (Paul Pogba to Man United.)
The Brazilian is quite possibly the most divisive player in football.
While the soya latte brigade might like the rainbow kicks and Nike adverts, proper fans are fed up of the diving, whinging and general dastardliness.
While Neymar has bought in herds of support from the fashion conscious and the selfie obsessed.
The pie and pint football fans find the game they love even further removed from what it once was.
PSG have introduced Michael Jordan’s brand ‘Jordan’ on their European kits this season.
Adding a basketball player’s logo on the shirt may seem futile and, well, just a bit random.
However, it is in fact a tactical marketing masterstroke from PSG.
The reach to the USA and having a ‘cool’ shirt can bring in millions.
Juventus sold 520,000 Cristiano Ronaldo shirts within 24 hours of them signing the Portuguese superstar.
Now PSG are hoping to match the Old Lady’s challenge to join the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Man United in terms of global recognition.
The Parisian club may be alienating the ‘proper football men’ with their gimmicks, but they’re building a fan base for the future.
It isn’t as if they are the first club to throw cash at their problems either.
Chelsea and Man City are cases in point in England.
While RB Leipzig are despised in Germany for their nouveau riche, energy drink enriched approach.
It is easy for traditional football fans to sit back and criticise the glitz and glamour and label PSG as everything wrong with modern football.
Many have contempt for their flat-track bully nature and their willingness to walk the Financial Fair Play tightrope.
But as PSG grow, you can see them being examples for other big clubs across the continent.
This may only be the beginning.
God help us.
NEXT: HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU ACTUALLY HATE YOUR CLUB’S RIVALS?