Kylian Mbappe will go down as arguably the greatest player in PSG’s history – but what happened to those who joined alongside him in 2018?
Having spent the 2017-18 campaign on loan at the club, PSG announced the mandatory purchase of Mbappe for €180 million and the superstar has gone on to score 256 goals in 307 games for the Parisiens.
With Mbappe leaving the club in 2024, we’ve delved into the archives to identify who PSG signed alongside Mbappe six years ago and where they are today.
Gianluigi Buffon
Buffon spent a single season in Paris before returning to Juventus in 2019 – the great goalkeeper was rotated with Alphonse Areola by Thomas Tuchel and is best remembered at PSG for his error against Manchester United in the Champions League.
After seeing out his career with Juve and Parma, Buffon retired at the age of 45 in August 2023. He is unquestionably one of the greatest keepers of all time.
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every England keeper capped during Buffon’s Italy career?
Thilo Kehrer
Kehrer cost €37million from Schalke, befitting of a young defender with a growing reputation. Sadly, that reputation hasn’t grown much in the intervening years.
While the Germany international was serviceable enough, there wasn’t exactly an outcry when he was sold to West Ham for €12million in 2022.
After failing to settle in England, Kehrer was loaned to Monaco in January 2024 and helped the club qualify for the Champions League. It remains unknown whether the Ligue 1 club will take up their option to buy the 27-year-old.
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Juan Bernat
Bernat joined the Ligue 1 giants from Bayern Munich, where he was originally signed by Pep Guardiola. Fair play.
He’s now on loan at Benfica, filling the Alex Grimaldo-shaped hole at left-back, making a handful of appearances as the club finished second in the Portuguese league.
At 31, he’s unlikely to get back in the PSG team, so his future is up in the air at the time of writing.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
Choupo-Moting arrived from Stoke following their Premier League relegation and proved a handy-ish squad player, notching nine goals from 51 appearances – the majority of which came off the bench.
The Cameroon international went on to fulfil the same role at Bayern Munich, except he’s flourished into something of a leading man since the departure of Robert Lewandowski – he’s notched a career-best 17 goals for the Bavarians last season.
In May 2024, Choupo-Moting announced he’d be leaving Bayern at the end of his contract.
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Leandro Paredes
Signed in January 2019 for a fee of €40million from Zenit Saint Petersburg, Paredes was a hit-and-miss acquisition for PSG – the midfielder played plenty of games but rarely made himself indispensable.
He was loaned out to Juventus in 2022 and PSG decided to cash in on Paredes the following summer. But, instead of returning to Juve, the Argentina midfielder chose Roma instead and has made 48 appearances for the Europa League semi-finalists.
