Paris Saint-Germain have been knocked out of the Champions League so even the tiniest hopes of holding onto Kylian Mbappe have faded away.
Kylian Mbappe has been poised to join Real Madrid in the summer but PSG were hoping against hope that if they manage to win the UCL, the French winger might change his decision and remain in Paris.
Now, the writing is very much on the wall and the Ligue 1 will have to set the ball rolling in terms of finding the long-term successor.
The first big name that has been mentioned amongst the PSG ranks is that of Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford. However, the club’s management is still unsure about the England international which is perhaps why they are said to be preparing a lucrative bid of €90 million bid for the Liverpool winger.
It will be a near-uphill task replacing Kylian Mbappe next season so we decided to take a look at which one of these EPL wingers can be the ideal signing.
Marcus Rashford or Luis Diaz: Who’s more likely to succeed Kylian Mbappe?
Kylian Mbappe has 14 major trophies during his time at PSG, plus he’s also won the World Cup with France back in 2018. And in terms of trophies, neither Luis Diaz nor Rashford comes close to the Frenchman.
Since joining Liverpool, Diaz has won three major honours while Rashford has won just four trophies with United since 2015.
Man United reportedly have set a price tag of €95 million for the England international which is pretty close to what PSG are planning to offer for Luis Diaz. However, in terms of value, the Liverpool winger offers a hell lot more than Rashford.
Marcus Rashford was a prodigy at Man United but he’s never quite taken his game to the next level. This is his 9th season with United and he’s played close to 400 games for the club but so far he’s had only three good seasons.
This campaign has been particularly poor for Rashford as he’s managed to score just 7 goals in 31 Premier League appearances and while Luis Diaz has similar league numbers, his overall contributions to Liverpool have been far greater.
In the league, Diaz has attempted 954 passes and has created 55 chances while Rashford has attempted 670 passes, creating just 25 chances in 2256 minutes of league football.
Diaz has a crossing accuracy of 24% while the United winger has an accuracy of just 5.71% and Luiz Diaz has completed almost 1.5x more passes in the opposition half(646 vs 374) in Rashford’s comparison.
Marcus Rashford’s attitude and defensive contributions have come under the scanner multiple times this season and this problem is very evident in the 80 recovery runs he’s made in 31 league games. On the other hand, Luis Diaz has run his socks off making as many as 119 recovery runs.
Marcus Rashford is full of potential and maybe PSG can help unlock it in a far less competitive league like the Ligue 1 but we think the Parisian side are more inclined to go after Luiz Diaz because the Liverpool man offers goals, assists and most importantly a work-ethic that has been moulded by Jurgen Klopp. With Kylian Mbappe heading for the exit, PSG will be able to free up a major part of their wage bills so paying a lucrative fee will not be an issue however unlike other seasons, under Luis Enrique, the French giants have been really calculated with the kind of signings they make.
Stats courtesy Squawka
