Is PSG the Manchester City of France?

Two years ago, the fate of Manchester City changed when a big money group purchased the club. Fast forward to this upcoming season and all of the money that was spent in the transfer market has paid off as the club will be playing the in Champions League. The same might be happening in France with Paris Saint-Germain.

Taarabt to PSG?
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On 31 May 2011, Paris Saint-Germain announced that Qatar Investment Authority bought a controlling 70% stake in the club. Colony Capital and Butler Capital Partners, who bought the club from television channel Canal+ in 2006, remained as minority shareholders with 30% and 4,2% of the stakes. QIA is estimated to hold in excess of $60 billion of assets, an amount that will significantly increase by 2011 as the state completes its expansion projects to become the world's largest LNG exporter with 77 million tons output capacity. The Qatar economy has been one of the most dynamic, where the GDP has risen from $8 billion in 1995 to an estimated GDP of $52 billion. The groups has been rumoured to put in a bid to buy Manchester United. 


Now the group is rumoured to be sinking a lot of money into the club in this transfer market. After years of being an after thought, PSG has been linked with Manchester United Dimitar Barbatov, Juventus's Mohamed Sissoko and QPR's Adel Taarabt. In the past the team would not be able to spend this much in a transfer window but with the funding in place they are more than happy to spend.

The comparisons between the two clubs are not that far off. Both clubs have great support. Both clubs have great stadiums: Manchester City: The City of Manchester Stadium, while PSG has the Parc de Princes. Now both have big time money behind them.

It might take a couple of years but I fully expect PSG to follow Manchester City path and be playing in the Champions League in the next couple of years.