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The most popular sport in the world, football, is not only about winning or losing. It is not only about stats, figures, and strategies. Football, at its core, is the purest form of joy, freedom, and entertainment.
Today, we will try to look beyond the usual numbers and chart, focus on the essence of it. Today, we will take a look at a few Paris Saint-Germain players who kept their fans hooked until the final whistle. Here are the top five entertainers PSG have ever seen:
Special mention: Lionel Messi is one of the best entertainers the world has ever seen. However, since the player has not even featured in 10 games for the club, we cannot keep him on this list.
#5 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Paris Saint-Germain brought Zlatan Ibrahimovic to announce themselves to the world. They wanted to make a statement in front of the European powerhouses. Getting a man with an outrageous skillset and an outlandish personality was the best way to do it.
Ibrahimovic arrived in Paris in 2012, hoping to rejuvenate his dipping career graph. He shook the order of the French league and quickly became the league’s best striker.
The Swede fought with his opponents, scored outrageous goals, and always had the best answers during press conferences. With him leading PSG’s charge, there was not a single dull moment.
Ibrahimovic openly called himself the best player in the league and the world, time and again, and the stats to back up his claims.
In only 180 games, Zlatan scored 156 games for PSG. He was also a pretty capable creator at the French club and pitched in with 61 assists during his four-year spell at the club.
#4 Jay-Jay Okocha
Widely hailed as Nigeria’s best-ever player, Jay-Jay Okocha called PSG his home between 1998 and 2002. The former attacking midfielder loved the game from the bottom of his heart and had the ability to write his love letter on the pitch.
Okocha was full of feints, stepovers, and signature turns. He could turn any defender inside out and had the intelligence to avoid rough challenges.
Okocha also had quick feet and could get out of trouble more often than not. As is often the case with skillful players, the Nigerian was also a bit inconsistent.
He would often put in a Man of the Match performance in one game and disappear without a trace in the next. PSG fans, however, celebrated the man unconditionally and consider him to be a part of the club’s history.
Also Read: Top 5 youth prospects at PSG right now (2021)
#3 Kylian Mbappe
PSG went all out in the summer of 2017, hoping to cement their place as a serious Champions League contender.
After signing Neymar from Barcelona, PSG went after Monaco wonderkid Kylian Mbappe. Over the next four seasons, Mbappe evolved into a mature goalscorer, even winning the World Cup with France in the process.
Mbappe is one of the most versatile attackers PSG have in their ranks. Not only can he play as a winger, but he is also an excellent centre-forward. He uses his pace brilliantly, dribbles exceptionally well, and can score outlandish goals.
Mbappe also has a fairly elaborate bag of tricks. Using step-overs, roulettes, and body feints, he tends to beat defenders effortlessly, and the fans love him for it.
Since moving to the French capital, Mbappe has scored 138 goals and provided 69 assists in 185 games across all competitions.
#2 Ronaldinho
Truth be told, Ronaldinho’s quantifiable contributions are not nearly enough to make him one of PSG’s best-ever players. However, if we are focusing solely on the entertainment quotient, there has hardly been anyone better.
The 2002 World Cup winner joined PSG in 2001, hoping to turn the club from the capital into one of the biggest teams in Europe. Ronaldinho, who was still finding his feet, took a bit of time to make a tangible impact.
However, PSG fans knew they had a special talent developing in front of them. Ronaldinho possessed out-of-the-ordinary dribbling skills and used to beat Ligue 1 defenders for fun.
His quick feet left opponents for dead and he could create decisive chances at will. Unfortunately, even his brilliance was not enough to lead PSG to silverware.
After winning the World Cup with Brazil, Ronaldinho started getting frustrated with the lack of quality in the team. Eventually, Barcelona came calling and Ronaldinho was happy to move away.
#1 Neymar
Neymar shares a lot of traits with his idol Ronaldinho. Like the Barcelona great, Neymar also loves to hug the left-wing, to draw defenders towards him.
The Brazilian is also an extraordinary dribbler and a set-piece specialist. Most importantly, Neymar, too, happens to be an exceptional entertainer, possessing the ability to make anyone dance to his tunes.
Neymar was signed from Barcelona in 2017 to bolster PSG’s push for the UEFA Champions League in 2017. The €222m signing is yet to fulfill the promise, but he has been an important contributor.
So far, Neymar has featured in 125 games for PSG and has directly contributed to 143 goals - 88 goals and 55 assists.
