5 Reasons why PSG will win the UEFA Champions League

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Chairman of Qatar Sports Investments and the CEO of Paris Saint-Germain did not go all out and turn the football transfer market upside down in pursuit of the Ligue 1 trophy.

Sure he wants to win the trophy back after that strange stumble of last season, but you don't buy a road-roller to kill an ant, do you?

Most of Europe's hypocritical, arrogant, establishment elite are jumping up and down on their high horses at this affront - and that's the clearest indication yet of just how big a threat PSG are to the stranglehold that the traditional European big boys have on the most prestigious club football tournament on the planet.

Here, though, are five tangible reasons why PSG are favourites to get their hands on old "big-ears"

#5. Easier League fixtures

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Ligue 1 is, how do we put this politely, not the hardest football league out there... after a tough Champions League fixture, you'd fancy a trip down to Dijon more than say Stoke City or Celta Vigo.

And this plays a very important role in the way clubs perform in Europe. While all English clubs and most Spanish clubs cannot really afford to rest any "big" players for matches domestically, PSG have the luxury of doing this without risking the credibility of their title challenge.

They are currently ripping it apart in Ligue 1 - 19 goals scored, just 3 conceded, in just 5 matches... and it really doesn't look like they're getting stopped anytime soon

#4. Squad depth

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Real Madrid proved just how important squad depth is last year when they basically played two XIs, one for the league and one for Europe, toward the fag end of the season... even resting Cristiano Ronaldo in that period.

While, as earlier explained, Ligue 1 is not as tough a league to crack as La Liga, PSG still cannot afford many slip-ups, especially if Radamel Falcao and Monaco find that late season form from last year. Here's where squad depth comes in, and the options PSG have are truly frightening, especially when it comes to moving forward - where they can call upon the services of any among Neymar, Edinson Cavani, Kylian Mbappe, Julian Draxler, Angel Di Maria (when he returns to fitness) and Lucas.

A little further back they have the mercurial Hatem Ben Arfa, veteran Javier Pastore and exciting young Giovani Lo Celso supported by Marco Verratti, Adrien Rabiot, Thiago Motta, and the promise of Christopher Nkunku.

Dani Alves and Thomas Meunier are two of the best you can get in their positions while Laywin Kurazawa and Yuri Berchiche are bristling with potential on the other flank. There are, though, only three proper centre-backs in the squad in Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, and Presnel Kimpembe but with so much going forward, it's not likely that that backline will get strained all that much... especially in Ligue 1.

#3. The promise of a January boost

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As they've shown this summer already, money is no problem for the Parisians - spending €222 million on one player showed just how audacious they were willing to get, and the ends they were ready to go to, to gain what they really want - a place at the table with the big boys.

If, then, any of the first two points don't pan out all that well... say, Ligue 1 clubs decide to buck the trend and put up a serious fight; or Angel Di Maria doesn't recover fully from that recurrent hamstring injury of his, or if Julian Draxler goes through a slump of form... well, the January window is still there and the men from Paris will not be shy in getting reinforcements into the club.

Besides, Nasser Al-Khelaifi has already said that the fans and the club need not worry about FFP regulations - so confident is he of meeting the requirements of UEFA in terms of their fiscal spending.

Money really won't be a problem.

#2. Marco Verratti

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Talk of that front three has eclipsed just how it all started. In Barcelona's arrogant, and ultimately futile, attempt to prise away the best young central midfielder on the planet at the moment - Italy's Marco Verratti.

There's a very good reason Barca were so desperate to sign the Italian playmaker... In the right system, Verratti is unplayable and can make things tick for any team. Sitting deep in the middle of the park, he makes the PSG behemoth run smoothly with his ability to maintain a metronomic rhythm as well as change it up with the occasional defence splitting pass.

He may no longer have the redoubtable Blaise Matuidi next to him, but in Adrien Rabiot he has a youthful central midfield partner that can do the dirty work for him while also retaining the ability to maintain passing rhythm if the Italian is under a touch too much scrutiny.

Besides, when things go down the dark path... who better to call up for assistance than Thiago Motta, eh?

#1. Neymar, Mbappe, Cavani

Metz v Paris Saint Germain - Ligue 1

Of course.

It had to be them.

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Neymar Jr., Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani are the most exciting thing in football right now. The Brazilian is playing like he did during his finest times at Santos - like he doesn't have a care in the world, and it's utterly spellbinding to watch.

He wants to win, and he really really wants to prove he's good enough to win the Champions League with him playing the leading role.

His personal drive to get his hands on the Balon d'Or, and wrest control of football's throne away from those two may have been enough on its own but add to that Kylian Mbappe's ambition - to prove that he really does belong where all that hype (and the damn €166 million price tag) have placed him... only Champions League performances will get the proverbial monkey off his back.

And it's amazing how we all forget just how good Edinson Cavani is - the Uruguayan gets written off thanks to his propensity to miss gilt-changed chances (nothing he did in that 6-1 debacle at the Nou Camp helps matters) - he will be dying to prove he that he really does belong in the very top bracket of footballers.