PSG’s Summer Plan: Malo Gusto Considered for Right-Back Role
Sixty-seven days after lifting the Champions League for the second time, Paris Saint-Germain were dragged back to earth with a thud. Their first outing of the new campaign ended in a 3-0 defeat to Real Mallorca, a side freshly relegated to Spain’s second tier.
It was a friendly in name only, a reminder in practice. PSG were without a large portion of their internationals, but the gap between the European champions’ status and their current state on the pitch was stark.
The response will not just come on the training ground. It will come in the market.
A busy corridor at the entrance
The doors at the Parc des Princes are already revolving.
Lucas Digne and Magnes Akliouche are both poised on the threshold, deals edging closer even if nothing has yet been stamped and sealed. Behind them, other names queue up in a more complicated line: Zion Suzuki from Parma, Mika Godts from Ajax. Those negotiations drag on, intricate and fragile, as PSG try to reshape a squad that has already conquered Europe but still feels incomplete.
Now another file has landed on the desk.
According to English outlet The Sun, PSG have set their sights on Chelsea right-back Malo Gusto, a move that would add a distinctly French flavour to a position long dominated by Achraf Hakimi.
From Décines-Charpieu to the top of Europe’s wishlists
At 23, Malo Gusto has already travelled a long way from Décines-Charpieu, the suburb where he was born and where Olympique Lyonnais first spotted his talent.
Lyon polished him, Chelsea paid for him. In 2023, the London club put down 35 million euros to bring him to Stamford Bridge. Last season he justified the investment with volume and impact: 49 matches in all competitions, 3 goals, 5 assists, and a place in France’s squad for the 2026 World Cup.
Those numbers have not gone unnoticed. Manchester City, themselves searching for a right-back, placed his name on their list earlier in the window. Chelsea, for their part, have not closed the door on a sale.
They know what they have. They also know his current valuation: 87 million euros.
The price of potential
Eighty-seven million. For a full-back. Even in the inflated world of the modern market, it is a figure that makes clubs pause.
PSG are no different. The Paris hierarchy are studying the deal, weighing Gusto’s qualities against the cost. The Sun reports that his profile has won admirers inside the club, not least coach Luis Enrique, who has approved him as a serious alternative to Hakimi on the right flank.
Gusto brings pace, aggression, and a willingness to attack space high up the pitch. On paper, he fits the template. On the balance sheet, it is another matter.
For a club that has already committed heavily in several areas, the idea of matching or approaching that 87 million euro mark feels excessive, even for a player of his trajectory.
A non-priority that won’t go away
Right-back was never meant to be a headline issue for PSG this summer. Hakimi remains a cornerstone, and Warren Zaïre-Emery’s performances as an emergency option on that side last season eased any sense of panic.
The 18-year-old’s composure and versatility offered Luis Enrique a different kind of solution, one that came from within rather than from the market.
Yet football rarely follows the original script. The combination of Chelsea’s openness to a sale and Gusto’s rise has created an opportunity that PSG are at least exploring. The arrival of Marco Balestra at Stamford Bridge only strengthens the impression that Chelsea are ready to reshape their right flank and listen to offers.
Chelsea open, Paris cautious
In England, the message is clear: Chelsea are prepared to sell if the price is right. In France, the tone is more reserved. No firm confirmation, no green light, only a sense that PSG are running the numbers and testing the limits of what makes sense.
This is not Kylian Mbappé-level urgency. It is not even a declared priority. It is a strategic question: is upgrading depth behind Hakimi worth a fee that would place Gusto among the most expensive defenders in history?
For now, the answer sits in a grey area, somewhere between temptation and restraint.
What is certain is that PSG’s summer is far from finished. A 3-0 defeat to a newly relegated side has underlined that. The champions of Europe still have work to do — and the decision on Malo Gusto will say plenty about how bold they intend to be.
