PSG Shift Focus to Maghnes Akliouche After Olise
Paris Saint-Germain have stepped out of the race for Michael Olise this summer, but they haven’t stepped away from the idea behind him. Instead of paying a premium for the finished article, the French champions are pushing hard to secure a player they believe could become that level of talent: Maghnes Akliouche.
Why Olise isn’t coming to Paris
Real Madrid’s pursuit of Olise was loud by design. The Spanish giants wanted the world to see they were all-in on one of the most coveted attacking talents around. When Bayern Munich won that battle, it felt like the story had reached its natural end.
In Paris, it sparked a different debate. Why didn’t PSG wade in with a blockbuster offer for a French star who fits the profile of their new, post-Galáctico project?
According to reporting in L’Équipe, the answer is simple and strategic. A source close to the club says PSG are focused on signing “the next Michael Olise,” not the current one. They see the market for established, top-tier attackers tightening, the prices climbing into what one internal voice described as a “nightmare.” Matching or outbidding Bayern for Olise would have meant entering a bidding war they have no desire to fight.
There is also a footballing reason. PSG like the attacking chemistry they already have. Tearing that up or overloading it with another high-cost, high-status forward is not on the agenda this summer.
Akliouche deal in ‘final stages’
Into that context steps Maghnes Akliouche. The France youth international is viewed inside PSG as exactly the kind of emerging attacker who can grow into a leading role without destabilising what is already in place.
The same L’Équipe piece notes that a deal for Akliouche is “in its final stages,” with a “three way desire to complete the deal quickly.” That phrase underlines how aligned all parties currently are: the player, PSG, and his current club all pushing toward a swift resolution.
For PSG, Akliouche represents opportunity rather than risk. A rising French talent, still mouldable, still hungry, and crucially, not yet in the financial stratosphere that now surrounds players like Olise. It fits the club’s recent shift toward building a core of young, high-ceiling players rather than stacking the squad with ready-made superstars at any cost.
Tension on the wings: Diomande and a chased starlet
While one winger edges closer to Paris, another appears to be slipping away. Yan Diomande, long on PSG’s radar, is now leaning toward staying put as RB Leipzig intensify efforts to tie him down to a new contract.
Leipzig’s push has complicated PSG’s plans. The German club is renowned for nurturing attacking talent and offering clear pathways to minutes, and they are moving aggressively to convince Diomande that his future remains in the Bundesliga.
There is pressure on the other side of the equation too. One of PSG’s own young stars is being courted by some of Europe’s biggest operators. Manchester City and two unnamed German clubs are working to lure the Parisian prospect away, sensing a rare chance to prise a gem out of the PSG academy.
PSG, for their part, want to keep him. At a time when they are deliberately hunting for “the next Olise,” losing one of their own rising attackers to a direct rival would cut against everything they are trying to build.
This is the new reality in Paris: less about headline-grabbing cheques for the finished product, more about winning the quieter, more delicate battles for tomorrow’s stars. Whether that gamble pays off will be written not in the boardroom, but in the feet of players like Maghnes Akliouche.
