European champions PSG knocked back in pursuit of ‘£70m’ Premier League target
Paris Saint-Germain aren’t resting on their laurels after finally achieving the Champions League win they’ve been craving for years.
PSG demolished Inter Milan in the Champions League final and looked like the perfectly tuned machine throughout their European campaign under head coach Luis Enrique, but standing still in football is going backwards.
The Parisians are reportedly looking to the Premier League in an effort to guard against unwelcome decay but have had a second bid rejected for AFC Bournemouth defender Illia Zabarnyi.
Captain Marquinhos and Willian Pacho started the Champions League final in Munich between PSG’s spectacular full-back pair Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi, cruising through a 5-0 win on Europe’s biggest stage like it was nothing.
But while the Ecuador international, signed from Eintracht Frankfurt, has at least a decade ahead of him, Marquinhos has longer than that behind him at the Parc des Princes.
The 31-year-old Brazilian has shown no signs of decline but stupid is the football club that doesn’t bring in an heir before the king departs.
Bournemouth centre-back Zabarnyi would be a natural successor. He’s been as solid as a stone for the Cherries since he moved from Dynamo Kyiv in 2023, quickly piling up 78 league appearances as manager Andoni Iraola masterminded the club’s highest-ever finish.
MORE ON PSG FROM F365:
👉 Arsenal move for £47m PSG star on three-midfielder shortlist as talks with Arteta favourite ‘collapse’
👉 Liverpool ‘biggest mistake’, Arsenal star backed as two ideal PSG signings with ‘best option’ named
👉 Man City ‘evaluating possibility’ of signing PSG Champions League hero amid contract uncertainty
👉 UEFA ‘dared’ to ban PSG from Europe after deaths and riots
The Dorset club threatened to achieve their first European place before falling away, ending a very impressive and often electrifying season in ninth place.
22-year-old Zabarnyi combined with Dean Huijsen to provide the defensive basis for Andoni’s fearless front-foot football in 2024-25 and Bournemouth have already sold the Spain youngster to Real Madrid this summer.
According to correspondent Mark McAdam, the right fee could tempt them to allow the Ukrainian to leave too. The European champions have made their interest known.
“Bournemouth have rejected Paris Saint-Germain’s second offer of £55m for Illia Zabarnyi,” McAdam told Sky Sports News.
“PSG are expected to submit a third offer in the coming days. Bournemouth value the defender, who cost them £24m plus add-ons when he joined from Dynamo Kyiv in 2023, in excess of £70m.”
The Ligue 1 champions reportedly made an initial bid worth £45m including add-ons and seem to be creeping towards the sort of fee that would give Bournemouth cause to consider a sale they’d prefer not to make.
PSG are still involved in the business of actual football and have played their first two matches at Gianni Infantino’s Club World Cup in the United States.
After a thumping win over Atletico Madrid in their opening match at the famous Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the Parisians were beaten 1-0 by Brazilian side Botafogo at the same venue.
They will take on already-eliminated Major League Soccer outfit Seattle Sounders in Seattle on Monday knowing they’ll probably need a result to take them through to the Round of 16.
