Why Paris Saint-Germain Need to Use Youth Players Better Next Season

The Beatles once sang "I don't care too much for money; money can't buy me love." Paris Saint-Germain continue to believe and hope money can buy them the UEFA Champions League.

However, the mentality of continually throwing money to improve their squad, although it has taken them to the second tier of Europe's top teams, it may not take them all the way to the top.

It also throws up other problems. With every huge signing the Parisians make, the pressure to succeed grows. League dominance is expected—and while likely continue, it highlights the struggles and failings as they get eliminated from the Champions League.

One of the biggest criticisms of manager Laurent Blanc over the past two seasons has been his reluctance to play youth players at the right time, halting their progression and creating a chasm between the superstars and the promising youngsters.

Just this season the under-17 and under-19 sides won their respective competitions, plus the U19s also reached the final of the UEFA Youth League.

"This has been a historical weekend in the history of our youth academy with two national titles in the U17 and U19," CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi told the official website after the U19s sealed their triumph with a 4-2 win over Saint-Etienne in early June. He continued:

I enthusiastically congratulate the players and coaches of these two sides! Paris Saint-Germain is very proud of their achievements. These two titles can be added to the fantastic performance of our U19 side in the Youth League.

These brilliant results reflect all the passion and hard work and talent of our academy coaches, as well as the desire the club has demonstrated over the last five years to make the Paris Saint-Germain Youth Academy a reference, not only in France, but around the world.

Having a blossoming academy is one thing, but it means little if the players are unable to play for the first team.

When ranking the PSG team by minutes played this season, per WhoScored.com, only Adrien Rabiot—13th with 1,616 minutes and 19 starts—played in the academy and saw regular action, although he did spend time away from the club before returning.

After that, you have Presnel Kimpembe. He only managed 426 minutes, but it's not the five starts that are the problem—he was only given one appearance off the bench.

You may not expect Blanc to push these kids into the lineup, but when opportunities present themselves, they need to be playing some role when games are out of sight. And when you finish 31 points ahead of Olympique Lyonnais in second place, the chances are there.

Bayern Munich's Kingsley Coman should be one of the crown jewels of the PSG academy, but after failing to receive any significant minutes in Blanc's team, he left for Juventus in 2014. Coman played 41 first-team minutes over two seasons.

Regardless of how old he was at the time, that's unforgivable, and it seems the senior players are not as helpful when it comes to passing on their wisdom.

"My relationship with [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic was completely neutral," Coman said when asked by German newspaper Kicker (h/t ESPN FC) about how close he was to the Swedish forward. "He is not the type of player to approach the younger players and give them advice. He only cares about himself."

Zlatan wasn't the only issue, and the feeling inside the team was there was a clear gap between the youth and the established players.

"There were a lot of different clans in the team," Coman added. "It was not easy to integrate and become part of the team. I never felt well with the first team. The competitions for places is huge. Winning titles is all that matters."

Coman's last comment hits the point home. However, it doesn't have to be that way. Better time management and a desire to want to bring these kids through would make a world of difference.

In the PSG squad, aside from Kimpembe, they have Christopher Nkunku. The midfielder was part of the side that reached the final of the UEFA Youth League and managed to break his way into the first-team squad before the end season, as discussed in a previous article.

PSG have Blaise Matuidi, Marco Verratti, Thiago Motta, Benjamin Stambouli and Rabiot who can all play central midfield, meaning Nkunku is the sixth player in that position. Really, he should be behind Rabiot and Motta—first or second substitute. When PSG are winning comfortably and want to use someone off the bench, they gain nothing from using Motta or Stambouli, and it would mean so much more to use the younger player.

He played 329 minutes this season, coming off the bench just once.

The other area where the biggest gap exists is in attack. Not mentioning Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, out on loan at Saint-Etienne, PSG still have Jean-Kevin Augustin and Hervin Ongenda in the squad, and they combined for a total of 776 minutes last season.

Ongenda has perhaps shown his level is not high enough to make an impact in the French capital, but Augustin's five goals in three games during preseason, should have been enough to see him given more than four starts during the whole campaign.

On the day PSG won the title, beating Troyes 9-0 on March 13, they were 3-0 up in 19 minutes. With the Champagne side bottom of the table, there was no chance of a comeback.

In the second half, with Augustin, Kimpembe and Nkunku on the bench, Blanc brought on Lucas Moura, Maxwell and Marquinhos. That was the perfect situation to get the kids involved, make them feel part of it and, most importantly, play without pressure.

Those players are unable to gain valuable minutes, so what does that say to the likes of Alphonse Areola, Jordan Ikoko, Youssouf Sabaly, Romain Habran and Bahebeck, who are all out on loan.

PSG, if they want to develop their own stars as well as bring in quality, need to show the young talent at the club there is a definite path to the first team.

Failure to do that will see more players end up like Coman, becoming stars away from Paris. Watching him come off the bench for France at the Stade de France for the the Euro 2016 opener on Friday must have been a difficult sight to take for the locals.

Regardless of the person in charge at the Parc des Princes next season, youth development—not just in the academies but in the first team—has to be a priority.